Routes Asia 2023

The route development forum for Asia

Chiang Mai, Thailand
• 14 – 16 February 2023

Conference Programme Speakers

Steven Small

Director Events, Routes

Participating Talks and Sessions

Nitinai Sirismatthakarn

President, Airport of Thailand Public Company Limited

Participating Talks and Sessions

Aaron McGarvey

Head of Network Strategy and Development, Finnair

Aaron McGarvey is the Head of Network Strategy and Development at Finnair, a newly formed unit responsible for defining Finnair’s future network strategy and fleet needs.

An Australian native in his 5th year in Finland, his career started as a graduate at Qantas in Sydney where he spent 5 years working in both commercial and operational units before moving to Etihad to look after USA markets in the Revenue Management team. After 2 years at Etihad, he moved to Finland to work in Finnair’s medium term network planning team, taking on more responsibility over his tenure. The last 3 years have been spent largely in crisis mode, playing a key role in navigating Finnair through the COVID crisis and now the war in Ukraine.

 Having grown up in Singapore, he holds a special bond with Asia and is looking forward to meeting our partner airlines and airports at Routes Asia 2023.

Participating Talks and Sessions

Woranate Laprabang

Chief Executive Officer, Thai Vietjet

Participating Talks and Sessions

Wutthiphum Jurangkool

Chief Executive Officer, Nok Air

Warner M. Andrada

Assistant Secretary for Tourism Development, Philippine Department of Tourism

Participating Talks and Sessions

Tasha Jackson

Sustainability Director, Boeing

Tasha Jackson is sustainability director for Boeing Commercial Airplanes Product Marketing, responsible for the market assessment, product sustainability strategy, and customer engagement activities. In this role, she leads the development of messaging to describe Boeing’s vision and practices to achieve sustainability goals and to leverage opportunities to partner with airline customers to meet industry goals.

Jackson previously served as product marketing manager for Boeing Global Services (BGS), where she highlighted the environmentally conscious aspects of Boeing flight operations products. These include the launch of Fuel Dashboard and paper-to-digital transformations with FliteDeck Pro helping customers to reduce their fuel and paper usage and improve their overall environmental impact.

 

Early in her career, she worked as the regional market manager for Microsoft’s Windows program and Hill’s Science Diet’s consumer selling program, where she managed business-to-consumer selling teams.

 

Jackson holds a Master of Business Administration with emphasis in marketing from the University of Denver and a bachelor’s degree in business marketing from the University of Northern Colorado. 

Participating Talks and Sessions

Malcom An

Senior Managing Director of Global Strategic Initiatives, Boeing

Malcom An is the senior managing director of Global Strategic Initiatives, Customer Entry-Into-Service and Pro-Forma Contract Management for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, sales and marketing organization. Appointed to this position in February 2014, Malcom is responsible for leading the integrated Boeing team with the development and execution of strategic programs and projects to strengthen cooperation between Boeing, airlines, regulators, airports, government officials, associations and other key aviation stakeholders with a focus on China, India, and Southeast Asia markets. He also leads the global team responsible for supporting new customers and operators of new models with preparing to enter revenue service. Malcom also has oversight over Boeing’s Global Support Centers providing technical and operational support in key regions.

Prior to his current assignment, Malcom had the responsibility for customer support strategies and initiatives in the aftermarket for the Supply Chain organization. In that position, Malcom directed a team in resolving significant fleet issues, improving fleet reliability, regulating supplier spares pricing, and driving enhancements in airline customer engagement.

Malcom joined the Boeing Company in 2007, leading various projects and recovery plans for the 787 Program. His experience includes serving as integration leader managing the 787 Global Supply Chain and working to drive continuous improvements in Supplier Quality.

Prior to joining Boeing, Malcom served as procurement officer, technical sales leader, and project manager at Lifespan Biosciences in Seattle, executing custom research projects for major pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide. Malcom earned his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Cornell University, and also holds a PMP and graduate certificate from Stanford University. A native of Washington, Malcom lives with his family in Seattle.

Participating Talks and Sessions

Fernando Grau

Director of Sales, Embraer Asia Pacific

Fernando joined Embraer in 1997 as product development engineer for the ERJ family of regional jets and the Super Tucano military trainer programs.

Two years later he moved on to assume the role of assistant to the president of a Brazilian cargo airline operating a fleet of Boeing 727 airplanes. Fernando re-joined Embraer as Sales Engineer and Market Analyst and in late 2000 was posted to China, at Embraer’s newly established representative office in Beijing, responsible for both commercial and executive jets technical marketing for sales campaigns.

In 2018 Fernando moved to Singapore to assume the role of Marketing Associate for Embraer Commercial Aviation, providing market intelligence support for APAC marketing and sales teams, and product requirements in the APAC region for Embraer roadmap on sustainable aviation solutions. In January of 2023, he was promoted to Regional Sales Director for the airlines operating out of Japan, South Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Pakistan and Chinese Taipei.

Fernando holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aircraft Design from the Brazilian Aeronautical Institute of Technology (ITA) and a MBA degree in International Business Administration from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Participating Talks and Sessions

Kim Kyong Won

Director of Commercial Strategy Department, Jeju Air

Participating Talks and Sessions

Siripakorn Cheawsamoot

Deputy Governor for International Marketing, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)

In 1990, Siripakorn started off as a Tourism Promotion Officer in the Youth Travel Market Section in the Marketing Promotion Department. Afterwards, in 1997 he was promoted to Chief of the Youth Travel Market Section in the Youth Travel Division.

He moved to Hong Kong in 2001 to act as Assistant Director in the TAT Hong Kong Office, Marketing Services Department. After four incredible years in Hong Kong, he moved to Phuket, Thailand to become the Assistant Director in the TAT Southern Office, the Domestic Offices Department.

In March 2006, he was the Director of the Domestic Sales Promotion Division. A few months later, in October 2006, he assumed the position of Director of the Domestic Marketing Group in the Offices under the Deputy Governor for Domestic Marketing.

A year later, he became Director Secretariat to the Governor Division in the Offices under the Governor. In 2009, he moved to the Tourist Information Division in the position of Director.

Participating Talks and Sessions

Rajat Kumar

Vice President Network planning, IndiGo

Participating Talks and Sessions

Tao Ma

Regional Director of Asia Pacific, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

Mr. Ma joined ICAO as Regional Director for the Asia Pacific Office in September 2021. Prior joining as ICAO Regional Director Mr. Ma served as the Regional Vice President for North-Asia of the International Air Transport Association
(IATA). He was the Permanent Representative of China on the Council of ICAO in Montreal from 2006 until 2017 and served in a number of different positions including Chairman of working group of governance and efficiency (WGGE); First Vice President of the Council of ICAO and Chairman of Technical Co-operation Committee.

Mr. Ma began his career in aviation with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) in 1983. Over the years, he has held positions of increasing responsibility within the CAAC including Director of the Flight Standards Liaison Division, Assistant Deputy Director General of the Department of Flight Standards; Deputy Director General of the Department of Flight Standards as well as Head of Airworthiness Certification Center of CAAC before joining IATA in 2019. He served as Acting Chairman of the North Asia regional technical cooperation Programme, ‘Cooperative Development of Operational Safety and Continuing Airworthiness Programme — North Asia’ (COSCAP-NA).

A graduate of the University of Civil Aviation of China, Mr. Ma also holds a Master’s degree in aviation safety management from Civil Aviation University of China and Ecole Nationale de l'Aviation Civile of France. He holds a Commercial Pilot’s Licence issued in China.

Participating Talks and Sessions

Julian Carr

Chief Marketing Officer Airlines & Route Development, GMR Airports Ltd

Julian Carr is Chief Marketing Officer of Airlines & Route Development at GMR Airports, based out of Delhi, India. GMR Airports Limited is the largest private airport operator in Asia and amongst the largest globally, handling passengers in excess of 100 million annually. Julian oversees all air service development activity for the Group’s airports, which includes Delhi and Hyderabad, along with the newly opened airport in Goa (GOX). Outside of India, the remit includes Cebu in the Philippines and Medan in Indonesia. Other airport development projects are also underway, as the Group continues to grow and develop its global footprint.

Prior to joining GMR Airports, Julian worked for MAG in the UK, where he held various roles during his 6 years there, with the majority of his time being Aviation Director for Manchester Airport – the largest airport in the UK outside of London.

Before moving to the airport side of the business, Julian held various senior roles within the airline sector, including a term as Managing Director of bmibaby, the low fares airline which was part of the bmi group, and subsequently Managing Director of Stobart Air, the Dublin based regional airline trading as Aer Lingus regional at the time.

Participating Talks and Sessions

Chen Chuanren

Southeast Asia and China Editor, Aviation Week Network

Chen Chuanren is the Southeast Asia and China Editor for the Aviation Week Network’s (AWN) Air Transport World (ATW) and the Asia-Pacific Defense Correspondent for AWN, joining the team in 2017. He has closely covered the region since 2013 and is interested in new airline concepts and airport designs in the Asia Pacific region.

Participating Talks and Sessions

Stefano Baronci

Director General, Airports Council International Asia-Pacific (ACI)

Mr. Stefano Baronci is the Director General of Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific, an association representing the interests of airports in Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Appointed in December 2019, Mr. Baronci is responsible for driving and executing the strategic plan of the association and overseeing a team of professionals at the Regional Office based in Hong Kong.

Mr. Baronci has 22 years of analytic and representational experience at national and international levels in the aviation sector, representing both airport and airline industries. He is very familiar with the ACI community, having previously served as the Director of Economics at ACI World in Montreal and Senior Policy Manager at ACI Europe in Brussels.  He has also served as Secretary General of Assaeroporti, the Italian airport operators association, and Assistant Director and ATM Infrastructure Expert at the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Mr. Baronci, a native of Italy, holds an Executive MBA from Warwick University in the United Kingdom and graduated with a Law degree from La Sapienza University in Rome, Italy. He is married with two children.

 

Participating Talks and Sessions

Subhas Menon

Director General, Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA)

Subhas Menon joined the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines in March 2020. Subhas has over 35 years’ experience in international aviation with the Singapore Airlines Group, having served in a wide spectrum of roles including international & government relations, marketing, product development, logistics, country & regional management.

In his various roles in the airline industry over the past three decades, he has developed a solid skill set that includes successfully building and managing relationships with different stakeholders, strong communications and public speaking skills as well as commercial acumen honed across different regions.

As Regional Vice President for an Asian airline in various regions around the world, and having also served as Chief Executive of SilkAir, Subhas is familiar with the Asian airline environment, its market dynamics and the region’s diverse political landscape.  Building on his early experience in international relations, he has well-developed lobbying and negotiation skills as well as dealing with government affairs, which makes him well-placed to undertake the kind of advocacy and lobbying activities AAPA conducts as a trade association on behalf of its member airlines.

He is a graduate of the National University of Singapore, with a Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) in Sociology.

Participating Talks and Sessions