The Strategy Summit at Routes Europe in Krakow saw some industry professionals tackling the biggest issues in aviation today. The Summit was split across three sessions, titled ‘What Europe needs is…’, ‘Who are the innovators and drivers of change in the European aviation market? Low cost longer-haul expansion – next steps’ and ‘Regional carrier trends in Europe’.

During the Summit, the audience were invited to participate via the website sli.do. This technology is an audience interactive tool for meetings, events and conferences which allowed those in attendance at the Summit to ask questions and vote in polls. Altogether, there were 82 active participants.

One of the hot topics from the Summit was the possibility of the UK’s departure from the European Union, dubbed Brexit. One of the polls offered to the audience asked the question ‘What could the exit of the UK from the EU mean for aviation?’ – the answers provided were: ‘It has serious implications for business opportunities and growth’, ‘It will cause some short term pain’ and ‘I haven’t really thought much about it’.

Thirty five people voted for the Brexit poll, with the majority believing it will seriously affect the aviation business. Twenty three percent of voters have not really thought about the issue, whereas 17 percent believe the pain caused by Brexit will not be long term.

Eight polls ran throughout the duration of the Summit, bringing in 235 votes across the board. The most popular poll of the day was ‘The small-to-medium network and regional carriers will struggle to remain relevant in the European air transport market’ with 68 percent disagreeing with this statement.

When asked if the performance of Europe’s air transport market is as good as it gets at the moment, 50 percent of those in attendance disagreed, believing there is another 2-3 years of growth yet to come. Twenty eight percent agreed with this statement, and 22 percent thought there will be another year of growth before the cycle turns downwards.

A staggering 77 percent of those who voted in the poll ‘The large legacy carriers are in trouble, they are not restructuring fast enough’ agreed. The impact of low-cost carriers in Europe were one of the main topics, as 63 percent of voters believe the march of LCCs in Europe is unstoppable, and they will dominate most short-haul flying within five years.

Twenty three questions were asked by the audience, 48 percent of which were asked anonymously. The most popular question of the day was ‘Regarding the need to resolve labour issues, isn’t it harder to make the case for that to trade unions amid low oil prices and strong profitability?’

The sli.do app gives the audience an opportunity to have their say, have their questions answered and interact with some top aviation professionals. Panellists from the Strategy Summit included Andrew Cornish, CEO of Liverpool John Lennon Airport; John Grant, Industry Advisor, OAG; Edmond Rose, Vice President, ICF International; Jochen Schnadt, CCO, bmi regional and Geoffrey Weston, Partner, London leader of Bain’s EMEA Air Transportation & Services Practice.