FUTURE ROUTES
Setting the agenda for the year ahead
With Routes Europe marking the half-way point for the 2016 series of events, delegates can already start planning ahead for 2017. The programme launches next year with Routes Americas taking place in Las Vegas from February 14-16. More than 700 aviation
industry professionals representing 80 airlines, 280 airports and 40 tourism bodies will have the chance to talk business in more than 2,000 pre-arranged meetings. It is only the second time
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Chengdu a ‘natural’ World Routes host
More than 3,000 delegates from around the world are expected to attend this year’s World Routes 2016. The 22nd World Route Development Forum will be held in Chengdu in China from September 24-27 with delegates representing 300 airlines, 700 airports and 130 tourism authorities. With 13,000 face-to-face meetings scheduled for the event, Routes director Katie Bland said that the event remained the key global event for anyone in route development to attend.
She added: “We work very hard
to attract the best delegates from airlines, airports and tourism bodies to the event and fully expect to have many of the industry’s key decision makers at World Routes 2016. “We also know how effective these meetings are, as World Routes 2015 proved. Within five weeks of a scheduled meeting at the event between Czech Airlines and Birmingham Airport, a new route by the airline to Prague was announced and the five- times weekly service is now up and running. World Routes works.” Bland added Chengdu was a natural
choice to stage the event following the success of Routes Asia in 2012 which was hosted by Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport.
64 ISSUE 3 ROUTES NEWS 2016
routesonline.com Since then the airport has seen
rapid growth with more than 40 airlines now operating 2,000 flights a week out of the facility and offering many direct connections to Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas.
Chengdu also boasts a number
of tourist attractions nearby which delegates can visit on tours. The itineraries include a half-day
tour to the Jinsha site which covers five square kilometres and dates back to the 12th century BC. It is now one of China’s most significant archaeological sites.
Meanwhile, animal lovers can take a half-day tour of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding which is devoted to one of the world’s most popular bears.
Bland said: “While World Routes is all about generating business opportunities for our delegates, it is also an opportunity for the hosts to show off their many attractions and Chengdu certainly has more than its fair share of these.”
Routes Americas has taken place in the US and comes immediately on the back of the record-breaking success of the 2016 event held in Puerto Rico’s capital San Juan. However, the venue should
prove popular as the 2017 hosts Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and McCarran International Airport previously hosted World Routes in the city in 2013. The city should also see further benefits; following the 2013 event, its airport gained more than 120 weekly flights with an estimated annual economic impact of $450 million. As well as meetings, delegates will be able to attend the Strategy Summit where key issues concerning aviation route development in the region will be discussed.
The event will be followed by
Routes Asia 2017 which will take place in Okinawa in Japan. It will be the first time the event has been held in Japan and it will be hosted by Okinawa Prefecture, supported by Okinawa Convention and Visitors Bureau. Meanwhile, Routes Europe 2018 will be held in Belfast, Northern Ireland, while World Routes 2018 is scheduled to take place in Barcelona.
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