Over 1,200 Aviation Professionals in Marseille for Routes Europe 2014
Over 1,200 Aviation Professionals in Marseille for Routes Europe 2014
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MARSEILLE, France Apr. 8, 2014 /PRN=KYODO JBN / --
Routes Europe 2014, the largest regional route development event ever
organised by Routes, opened in Marseille this weekend to a record attendance of
over 1200 delegates from 70 countries, representing 115 airlines, 380 airports
and over 50 tourism authorities.
Speaking at the opening press conference this morning, Pierre Regis,
Managing Director of Marseille Provence Airport highlighted the impressive
growth rates of this year's host: "Marseille is the fastest growing airport in
France with a 54% growth in passengers over the past ten 10 years, and the
third largest cargo airport in the country. Marseille-Provence is also the
second most important tourism region in France with 30 million visitors per
year."
Julien Boullay, Marketing and Communications Director of Marseille Provence
Airport added that last year alone, the region saw an increase in the number of
international visitors of 21% thanks to a growing European and long-haul
network: "Our target is 10 million passengers in 2020, up from 8.4 million last
year." The 29 airlines operating out of Marseille will commence numerous new
routes this year, including Toronto and the newly announced Moroni in the
Comores that will be launched by Air Madagascar on 26 June 2014.
Adrian Newton, Group Director Transport and Technology, at Routes
organisers UBM Live said: "Increasingly the global economy is an aviation
economy. Air services are the lifelines of a modern economy and one of the
biggest assets of a city or region."
Katie Bland, Director Routes, UBM Live added: "It is a bit like a
matchmaking service for the aviation industry. Routes Europe is a unique
opportunity for Marseille to present itself to network decision-makers from
airlines in Europe, the Middle East, the US and China - the people attending
the event are the very people who decide where their airlines will fly in the
future."
Routes Europe 2014 officially opened yesterday with the hard hitting
Strategy Summit. The motto of the day could be described as "plus ca change",
as around 20 high-level speakers from Europe and beyond attested to constant
change in all parts of the aviation and tourism industry.
In an enlightening keynote speech, Frederic Gagey, Chairman and CEO of Air
France, highlighted the challenges France's flag carrier has been facing since
the beginning of the economic crisis and its struggle to return to
profitability. The company has put in place a far-reaching programme to turn
around the business, he explained, which includes reducing the number of
employees by 10%, or 10,000, since 2011:
"It was a difficult choice, but you have to accept such an evolution when
you turn around a company."
However, cost-cutting measures alone are not sufficient. "You have to show
a new commercial perspective as well. We are investing EUR 500m in the improvement
of our product." Air France is also investing in new long-haul services,
introducing a Paris-Brasilia service, followed by a new route to Jakarta next
summer. This far-reaching "transformation plan" is beginning to bear fruit: Mr
Gagey announced that he expects Air France to return to a positive operating
margin in 2014.
The reoccurring theme of the day was the "great convergence" of legacy
carriers and low-cost airlines. While Air France-KLM and Lufthansa are
transferring large parts of their networks to their low-cost subsidiaries,
low-fares airlines offer more and more services that have so far been
associated with network airlines and increasingly move into large hub airports.
With the likes of Norwegian, WestJet and flynas breaking into the long-haul
market, the convergence between network carriers and low-cost airlines seems to
be gaining even more momentum.
A full report on the Strategy Summit can be found here. A summary of the
keynote speech by Frederic Gagey, Chairman and CEO of Air France, is available
here.
The Routesonline news section will be updated with breaking news stories
throughout the event.
Notes to Editors
About Routes
-Routes organises world-renowned airline and airport networking events
through its regional and global Route Development Forums. Each year, there is
one global event and one regional event in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas
and CIS respectively. http://www.routesonline.com
-Routes was founded in 1995 as part of the Manchester UK - based ASM
Ltd., a consultancy specialising in the field of route development for
airports. http://www.asm‐global.com. Routes and ASM are part of the UBM
Live division of UBM plc.
-UBM Live connects people and creates opportunities for companies across
five continents to develop new business, meet customers, launch new products,
promote their brands and expand their markets. Through premiere brands such as
MD&M, CPhI, IFSEC, TFM&A, Cruise Shipping Miami, the Concrete Show, the Routes
portfolio of events, Airport Cities and many others, UBM Live exhibitions,
conferences, awards programs, publications, websites and training and
certification programs are an integral part of the marketing plans of companies
across more than 20 industry sectors. http://www.ubmlive.com
Follow us on twitter: @Routesonline, @TheHUBRoutes, @VictoriaRoutes,
@NLPROU, @airlineroute
About UBM plc
-UBM plc is a global events-led marketing services and communications
company. We help businesses do business, bringing the world's buyers and
sellers together at events and online, as well as producing and distributing
news and specialist content. Our 5,500 staff in more than 30 countries are
organised into expert teams which serve commercial and professional
communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively
and efficiently.
-For more information, go to http://www.ubm.com; follow us on Twitter at
@UBM_plc to get the latest UBM corporate news; follow @UBM for news from all
UBM's businesses; follow @UBM for a flavour of UBM from selected members of
UBM's Twitterati.
SOURCE: UBM Live Routes Ltd
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