Taking place on Sunday 23^rd February 2014 and open to all attending delegates, The ALTA Routes Americas Strategy Summit will open Routes Americas 2014 in San Salvador. 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 affecting commercial aviation across the entire Americas.

Attendees of the Summit, which is sponsored by The New Quito International Airport, will hear opening remarks from Minister José Napoleón Duarte Durán, El Salvador Minister of Tourism followed by a keynote address from Eduardo Iglesias, Executive Director of ALTA. Four moderator led sessions covering various aviation related subjects affecting the Americas region will then take place.

Session one, The Consolidators: In Search of Stability and Continuity

Participation from Estuardo Ortiz, Executive VP and Chief Revenue Officer for Avianca and Todd Scott, International Planning Manager for UPS Airlines. This session will be moderated by Michael Bell, Consultant at Spencer Stuart who will also moderate the second session...

Session two, The Niche Players: In Search of Change and Niche Success

During this session Mr Bell will be joined by Juan Emilio Posada, Executive Chairman of VivaColombia, Capt Jagmohan Singh, CEO of Caribbean Airlines and Albert Kluyver, CEO of InselAir

Session three, Airport Privatisation – The Price is Right?

The discussion will cover whether the latest airport sales have been overpriced and if all the best prospects have been privatised. The session will also ask whether there will be a change of pace in USA airport privatisation, are airport operators improving services and investing enough to bring airports to the next level? The panel for this session will include Daniel Ketchibachian, Commercial Director of Corporacion America, Aluizio Margarido, Commercial Director of Viracopos International Airport, Lee Lipton, Director of Air Service Marketing for Vantage Airport Group, Amit Rikhy, Vice President/Head of Acquisitions for ADC & HAS Airports Worldwide and Matt Cornelius of ACI North America.

Session four, Visions of Future Flying

We question what the market outlook is for North, Central and South America. Which manufacturer is best placed to serve the market of the future? Can full service carriers respond to the market changes? What is the future for LCC’s in markets such as Chile, Peru and Ecuador that don’t have any LLC’s yet? Confirmed panellists for this final session of the day include Fariba Alamdari, VP Market & Value Analysis for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Hernan Pasman, CEO of LAN Colombia, Ciro Camargo, Alliances for Gol Transportes Aereos, Zhihang CHI, VP & General Manager, North America for Air China and Peter Cerda, RVP The Americas for IATA who will moderate this discussion.

And...

The programme will also include presentations from Andrew O’Brian, President and CEO of Summit sponsor The New Quito International Airport and a Market Focus, Presentation on the Caribbean from Beverly Nicholson-Doty, Chairperson of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation and US Virgin Islands Commissioner of Tourism

Routes Americas 2014 attracts the industry’s key decision makers and is the must attend event for all those interested in meeting with the industry's key players. The event, which is the annual gathering of air service decision makers for all of the Americas, is expected to attract over 70 airlines, 200 airports and over 30 tourism authorities along with a number of other industry stakeholders from across the Americas to discuss air service development.

Keep reading the HUB for regular updates on the ALTA Routes Americas Strategy Summit and for more information and to register for Routes Americas 2014 click here.