The Latest News Ahead of Routes Americas in Cartagena

Routes Americas, now in its 6thyear, will see a record number of attendees when the 2013 event opens in Cartagena in two days time. The event will take place at the Hilton Cartagena Hotel, hosted by Sociedad Aeroportuaria de la Costa S.A. (SACSA) and its partners Cartagena de Indias, ProExport Colombia and The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism, Colombia.

Over 70 airline delegates representing 64 of the Americas’ leading airlines will be present at the event. This is the strongest airline list ever assembled at Routes Americas and for the first time at the annual event the top 20 scheduled carriers in the Americas will all be in attendance. Carriers from across the entire region will gather in Cartagena to meet with airports, tourism authorities and other industry stakeholders to discuss the future of air service in the Americas. Click here for the complete and most up to date list of attending airlines.

Further to this impressive and record breaking list of attending airlines many airports and tourism authorities are also registered to attend. The US Department of Transport (DOT) is attending the event for the first time ever and major Brazilian airport administrator, Infraero, will attend for the first time in 4 years.

The entire region of Central America will be in attendance - Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama are all registered and the majority are exhibiting. Over 50% of islands from the Caribbean are attending Routes Americas this year, including delegations from Guadeloupe, Barbados and a first time participation ever at a Routes event of Martinique. Recently it was also confirmed that all of the major Mexican airport groups (ASUR, GAP, OMA and ASA) would also be in Cartagena for the event.

In addition to the Face-to-Face meetings which take place at the core of the event the Routes Americas Strategy Summit, which is being held in association with ALTA, will open Routes Americas in Cartagena. Taking place on Sunday 10thFebruary 2013 and open to all attending delegates the Strategy Summit will provide a valuable insight into aviation across the region as panels of leading industry experts take part in a number of moderator led discussions addressing key air service development issues effecting commercial aviation across the entire Americas.

The full Strategy Summit programme can be found here but highlights and recent additions to the impressive list of speakers include Mr Sergio Diaz-Granados, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Republic of Colombia, Hernan Pasman, CEO of LAN Colombia, Estuardo Ortiz, Chief Operating Officer & Executive VP, AviancaTaca and Zhihang Chi, Vice President & General Manager, North America, Air China.

To keep up to date with everything that’s going on at Routes Americas, attending delegates should download the new and improved Routes Americas App. The App is now available from Google Play and the iTunes App Store and will ensure that all essential information is available at the touch of a button. Along with the floorplan, airline table locations, delegate listings, city guide and social media links, this year’s App also includes an improved event programme area, message wall facility and meeting diary access, for more information click here.

Keep up to date with everything that’s happening at Routes Americas 2013 by reading the HUB Event Dailies which will be sent out each day of the event!

Richard Maslen

Richard Maslen has travelled across the globe to report on developments in the aviation sector as airlines and airports have continued to evolve and…