ঢাকা
সোমবার, জুন ৮, ২০২৬
More than 300 aviation and airport professionals will be heading to the first CONNECT Middle East, India & Africa (MEIA) conference which gets underway tomorrow (Tuesday 30 April).
The two-day meet, which is co-located with Arabian Travel Market 2019, unites airline and airport executives with manufacturers and suppliers, providing a global forum for business and networking opportunities. More than 40 airlines have confirmed their attendance. Alongside the conference programme, delegates can book one-to-one appointments in airline and airport meeting lounges and enjoy evening networking events.
Karin Butot, CEO, The Airport Agency, said: “CONNECT is a new addition to the route development calendar and co-located with ATM is a natural choice given the unprecedented growth in aviation across the region. We look forward to welcoming delegates to what promises to be a series of lively debates and discussions.”
The Middle East’s airline seat count has doubled in the last 10 years, and last year saw 264.31 million scheduled departing seats, according to anna.aero data. Growth has been fuelled by the major expansion of scheduled carriers and more recently, low-cost airlines, which now accounts for 16 percent of all departing seats. Dubai International Airport, the world’s largest airport for international passenger numbers, recording 89.1 million passengers last year, accounts for 22 percent of all departing seats in the Middle East. Nick Pilbeam, Divisional Director, Reed Travel Exhibitions, said: Two-thirds of the world’s population is within an eight-hour flight of the GCC and the region’s airlines are continuously adding new routes, to connect to fresh destinations. Kicking off the two-day event will be a training workshop entitled ‘The Simpson Paradox in Donut Crunching’ – showing how best to achieve better data accuracy when estimating a route’s potential. John Strickland, Director, JLS Consulting, will then give a keynote presentation on ‘The State of the Airline Industry’ which will be followed by a briefing from Airbus which will provide updates on product lines, infrastructure regulation, airline technologies, and airport capacity challenges.
China Southern Airline will hold a dedicated briefing highlighting its dual-hub strategy in Guangzhou and Beijing Daxing International Airport. After lunch, the second keynote presentation will be European Union External Aviation Policy, in which Annabelle Le piece, Partner, CMS DeBacker, will outline how ongoing negotiations for comprehensive air transport agreements between the EU and GCC are being “hampered by protectionist voices”.
Day one rounds off with a panel discussion on the regional opportunities and challenges, and a seminar on the relationship between air service development and infrastructure, followed by a networking event at Palace Downtown Dubai viewing deck.
The second day will analyze how airports and their regions can work together to attract new airline services and include a presentation on Dubai World Central Airport from Nathalie Jongma, Head – Aviation Business Management, Dubai Airports. Panelists will also discuss the opportunities and threats for the rapidly growing African aviation market. CONNECT MEIA forms part of Arabian Travel Week 2019, an umbrella brand that comprises three other co-located shows, including Arabian Travel Market, ATM Holiday Shopper, and International Luxury Travel Market Arabia.
Arabian Travel Market is the leading international travel and tourism event in the Middle East for inbound and outbound tourism professionals. ATM 2018 attracted almost 40,000 industry professionals, with representation from 141 countries over the four days. The 25th edition of ATM showcased over 2,500 exhibiting companies across 12 halls at Dubai World Trade Centre. Arabian Travel Market 2019 will take place in Dubai from Sunday, 28 April to Wednesday, 1 May 2019.
Arabian Travel Week is an umbrella brand comprising four co-located shows including Arabian Travel Market and ILTM Arabia, as well as CONNECT Middle East, India, and Africa – a new route development forum launching this year and ATM’s first ever consumer event ATM Holiday Shopper. Providing a renewed focus for the Middle East’s travel and tourism sector – under one roof over the course of one week – the inaugural Arabian Travel Week will take place at Dubai World Trade Centre from Saturday 27 April to Wednesday 1 May 2019.
CONNECT Route Development Forum delivers a total networking experience, bringing together airports, airlines and aviation suppliers in a format that offers formal one-to-one pre-arranged meetings, engaging industry seminars together with social opportunities to cement relationships with existing clients and engage with new ones. Created and organized by The Airport Agency-France, CONNECT is now in its 16th year and set to attract more 650 participants in June 2019 at its flagship event taking place in Cagliari, Sardinia.
The inaugural CONNECT Middle East, India, and Africa event will be the brand’s first and only networking forum in the Middle East. Ideally located in Dubai to address the booming aviation market of the Middle East, it will bring together the aviation and the tourism industries, which are the backbone and catalyst of economic development. For more information.
ATM Holiday Shopper is the brand-new travel event for consumers offering the very best travel and tourism discounts and deals, plus the chance to learn about a range of emerging and unexplored destinations and activities from destinations around the world. The inaugural event will take place in Hall 1 of the Dubai World Trade Centre on Saturday, 27 April 2019 from 12:00 – 20:00. For more information.
International Luxury Travel Market Arabia is an exclusive event for those looking to attract HNW travelers from the Middle East to their destination. Returning for its third year, ILTM will allow international luxury suppliers and key luxury buyers to connect via one-to-one pre-scheduled appointments and networking opportunities. ILTM will take place on Sunday 28th April and Monday 29th April 2019. 
is the world’s leading events business, enhancing the power of face to face through data and digital tools at over 500 events a year, in more than 30 countries, attracting more than seven million participants.
Reed Travel Exhibitions is the world’s leading travel and tourism events organizer with a growing portfolio of more than 22 international travel and tourism trade events in Europe, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Our events are market leaders in their sectors, whether it is global and regional leisure travel trade events, or specialist events for meetings, incentives, conference, events (MICE) industry, business travel, luxury travel, travel technology as well as golf, spa, and ski travel. We have over 35 years’ experience in organizing world-leading travel exhibitions.
World Travel Market (WTM) portfolio comprises six leading B2B events across four continents, generating more than USD 7 billion of industry deals. These events include:
WTM London, a must-attend three-day exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry. About 50,000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers, and international media visit ExCeL in London every November, generating about GBP 3.4 billion of travel industry contracts. The next edition will take place on 4-6 November 2019. For more information, visit http://london.wtm.com/.
Travel Forward, a new travel technology event co-located with WTM London and part of the WTM portfolio of events. The inaugural Travel Forward conference, exhibition and buyer programme will take place from 4-6 November 2019 at ExCeL London, showcasing next-generation technology for travel and hospitality. For more information, visit http://travelforward.wtm.com/.
WTM Latin America, an exhibition that attracts about 9,000 senior executives and generates about USD 374 million of new business. Taking place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, this show attracts a global audience to meet and shape the direction of the travel industry. More than 8,000 unique visitors attend the event to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry news. The next edition will take place in 2020. For more information,
WTM Africa, which was launched in 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa. Nearly 5,000 travel industry professionals attend Africa’s leading inbound and outbound travel and tourism market. WTM Africa delivers a proven mix of hosted buyers, media, pre-scheduled appointments, on-site networking, evening functions and invited travel trade visitors. The next event will take place in 2020.
