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