Who’s Who of Indian Aviation to attend LCC Symposium in Mumbai

The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation is to host The Second Annual Indian Subcontinent Low Cost Airline Symposium in Mumbai, India on 6-7 October. The Symposium will be attended by delegates of every start-up airline in India, plus the key full service carriers from India and the Middle East, as well as top aviation officials and airport CEOs from across the region.

This year’s Symposium will be held at the Grand Hyatt Mumbai and follows the success of the inaugural Symposium in New Delhi last year, which attracted 300 delegates and numerous high profile international speakers. Since then, developments in the low cost airline sector in the region have continued at a dramatic rate, with significant implications across the aviation and tourism industries.

The Centre's Managing Director, Peter Harbison, said, "India's aviation sector has made headlines around the world with the huge aircraft orders placed at the Paris Air Show. Liberalisation, strong economic growth and the introduction of the low cost model have been key drivers of this development, in India and the Middle East. This Symposium is a very timely opportunity to discuss the outlook for one of the fastest growing aviation regions in the world”.

The Symposium will cover many aspects of the industry, including:

- Direction of aviation policy;
- Market competition and sustainability;
- Financing the growth; 
- Availability of human resources
- Trends in airport infrastructure, including new low cost terminals; 
- Innovations in distribution; and
- Implications for the growth of tourism.

High profile speakers from a diverse range of organisations are already confirmed:

- Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia, an airline that has become almost synonymous with the development of low cost carriers in Asia, will present his airline's operating model and provide his thoughts on the outlook for low cost airlines in India;

- Mumtaz Khan, the Chairman and CEO of one of the founding investors in AirAsia, Emerging Markets Partnership (Bahrain), a division of the Islamic Development Bank, will join a panel to discuss the evaluation of investment opportunities in low cost airlines;

- Captain Gopinath, Managing Director of India's first and largest low cost airline, Air Deccan, which introduced the concept into the market and which has subsequently revolutionised domestic travel in India, will speak about where the industry goes next;

- Jeh Wadia, Managing Director of GoAir, a start-up carrier planning to launch operations later in 2005 will present the carrier's entry strategy and outline why the promoter of the airline, the Wadia Group, one of India's leading corporate houses, sees opportunity in the aviation sector;

- David Huttner, former Head of Strategy at Virgin Blue Airlines in Australia, will address how carriers should manage customer expectations in difficult situations.

- Peter Hill, CEO of SriLankan Airlines, will join this discussion, with a number of other key operators expected to confirm their participation shortly.

- CEOs from Air Arabia and start-ups, Jazeera Airways from Kuwait and Al-Tayyar will also be participating as part of the speaker programme.

"When we held our inaugural event last year, the low cost airline industry was still in its infancy. It has developed at a fantastic pace since then and this will be the first opportunity for the key stakeholders to gather to discuss the issues which they face and exchange ideas and experiences. We are truly fortunate that we will have the opportunity to hear from such an outstanding line-up of speakers. The calibre of participants will ensure a fascinating event from which should emerge a clearer picture of the direction of the region's low cost industry in the year ahead”, said Mr Harbison.

A number of high profile companies have already associated themselves with this landmark event, including Boeing Commercial Airplanes, The Financial Express, both at Platinum level, and Cendant Travel Distribution Services.

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