CAPA Asia Aviation Summit 2016

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	Jeff Ames Managing Director Asia WEX Jeff Ames is the Managing Director for WEX Asia Pacific. He joined WEX in 2010 and has worked across issuing, merchant services, strategy and business development roles in the USA, Australia and the UK. Jeff is responsible for the Asia Pacific strategy and growing revenue throughout the region for the virtual payments product portfolio. Jeff also sits on the Asia Pacific advisory board of Commercial Payment International. Prior to WEX, Jeff worked for American Express in their Global Merchant Services business and at GE Capital in their Consumer Cards division and holds an MBA from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia.

	Mr Todd W. Arthur Managing Director HRS Todd is the Asia Pacific (APAC) Managing Director for HRS. His core responsibilities include setting the business direction, driving organic growth with new and existing customers across APAC markets, establishing strategic partnerships, and talent development. Currently, Todd leads the team based in the regional headquarter at Singapore, as well as overseeing the local operations in Thailand, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, India and Australia. Todd is on the Board of Directors of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), representing Asia. Prior to HRS, he served as Vice President of sales and account management for Asia Pacific at BCD Travel, where he headed up strategic growth and account development across 17 markets. Todd has more than 20 years of travel industry experience, including airline sales, management and consulting in both North America and Asia. Prior to joining BCD Travel in 2007, he directed air and hotel sourcing projects, contract management and strategic travel management for clients at Advito, the independently operated consulting subsidiary of BCD Travel. Previously, Todd was the General Manger (South China) for Finnair, responsible for strategic corporate contracts, revenue & yield and sales strategy. Prior to joining Finnair, Todd served as sales manager for Malaysia Airlines on their North American commercial team.

	Mr Peter Bellew Group Managing Director & CEO Malaysia Airlines Berhad Peter Bellew was appointed Group Managing Director (“MD”) and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of MAG and Malaysia Airlines Berhad (“MAB”) on 1st July 2016. He brings with him over 20 years experience in the aviation industry. He holds a Bachelor of Business Studies (Hons) from the Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Peter Bellew joined MAB as Chief Operations Officer on 1 September 2015. He was appointed Executive Director on to the Board of MAB on 19 April 2016 and subsequently named Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to MAB Peter was at Ryanair where he served in various roles with increasing responsibility since 2006 leaving the airlines as the Director of Flight Operations for up to 72 bases, operating a total of 320 aircraft. In this role, he ensured cost effective operations and punctuality at more than 150 airports in over 30 countries, created a training organisation for 600 new Boeing pilots, built employee representative council structures in 19 countries, opened 61 new overseas bases, and introduced new technologies to reduce costs across the airline. Peter also served as the Head of Sales and Marketing at Ryanair where he played a pivotal role in introducing new customer service initiatives, pan-European TV advertising, and positive press relations contributing to record sales. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Director Flight Operations. Before Ryanair he was the CEO and founder of vbnets.com/wapprofit Ireland established in 1998, an IT service business focussed on mobile wireless technology. Peter served as the Kerry Airport General Manager in Ireland from 1993 to 1997 and founded Kerry Holidays – an inbound tour operator to support new airline services to the region. Prior to that, Peter was the Drive Ireland Managing Director Liverpool, UK from 1989 – 1993, founded the first direct sell tour operators

	David Bishko Former Managing Director Alliances Delta Air Lines David Bishko spent 18 years at Delta Air Lines which included managing over 20 airline partnerships as Delta’s Managing Director Alliances. Mr. Bishko was on the SkyTeam Steering Committee and also spent several years based in Paris managing the implementation and daily operations of the Delta-Air France/KLM/Alitalia JV which he helped design. Other experience at Delta includes Network Planning, Corporate Strategy, Finance, Sales Analytics and Market Development. He is now a Vice President at Seabury specializing in airline partnerships and network planning. He has worked with clients worldwide on partnership development, implementation and management, and leads workshops on joint venture best practices.

	Lance Blockley Managing Director RFi Consulting Lance Blockley is Managing Director of RFi Consulting, a firm specialising in payments. He has advised issuers, acquirers, third-party processors, technology providers and payment associations in addressing many of the financial sector’s most significant issues. He has over 35 years experience in senior management and consulting in the UK, USA, Asia and Australia. Prior to establishing RFi Consulting in 2013, Lance ran Edgar, Dunn & Company in Asia-Pacific for over 10 years, acting as global Managing Director for a 3 year term. Lance holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, England and an M.B.A. from IMD, Switzerland. He is a Fellow of both the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Chartered Management Institute (UK).

	Mr Michael Burke Assistant Director, Commercial Hong Kong Airlines A highly respected and highly motivated aviation professional, Michael has twenty years of senior level experience in the aviation industry, with the last decade spent in Asia. With an extensive commercial background, he has a proven track record in building, motivating and managing sales and marketing, distribution, network planning, revenue management and alliances teams to consistently over-deliver aggressive revenue targets in tough business environments via his strong interpersonal skills and his ability to influence across all levels. He is currently directing all commercial revenue strategy and activities for Hong Kong Airline’s aggressive growth in China and South East Asia and its’ future global ambitions, previously he built, led and managed strong, high performance teams in the UK, US, India and China over a 16 year career with Virgin Atlantic, with a strong focus on operational excellence, quality of service delivery and employee engagement. He has developed new and profitable revenue streamsby successfully managing all key relationships with partners and suppliers, overcoming cross-cultural boundaries and has thus developed a keen understanding of diverse cultures and the unique challenges of doing business in a dynamic global marketplace. He graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Transport from the University of Plymouth, UK in 1995 and has attended Harvard Business School’s Global Strategic Management program due to his acute interest in geopolitical matters and business’s place within them.

	John Butler VP - Information Technology, Asia Pacific Carlson Wagonlit Travel John Butler is Vice President, Information Technology, Asia Pacific at Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT). Based in Singapore, John leads a team of 60 staff across 8 countries and 18 locations, and is responsible for technology within the APAC region and ensuring appropriate levels of service for globally aligned functions. John has 26 years of experience as an IT specialist across the insurance, banking and finance sectors in various markets including Singapore, Australia, the UK and the Netherlands. Prior to joining CWT, John was Director, Head of Markets and Security Services Technology, Global Head of Equities QA at Citibank in Australia from 2010-2015. He has also worked at Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, Rabobank, ABN Amro and JP Morgan. John has a MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management (University of New South Wales) and a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics/Computer Science) degree from the University of New South Wales.

	Mr Albert Muntané Casanova Senior VP Aviation Research DVB Bank Albert is an inherently curious person, and has spent over 15 years in international and multinational environments. After gathering some years of experience in sales, marketing, consulting and project management, he joined the airline industry in 2005, where he held a number of roles in route management and revenue management and has been a member of cross-functional teams. In 2011 he joined Air Europa as Head of Network with special focus in Network Development, and in this function he has been deeply involved in the transformation of Air Europa’s business model. Albert holds a degree in Business Administration and is particularly interested in behavioral economics. In his free time, Albert does not play golf.

	John Chapman Head of Sales & Business Development, Asia Pacific Sabre Airline Solutions John joined Sabre in 2015 and heads the Sales and Business Development for the Airline Solutions division across Asia Pacific. Based in Bangkok, John covers Sabre’s end-to-end solution suite, including the SabreSonic Passenger Service System, Sabre AirVision suite of marketing and planning solutions and the very successful Sabre AirCentre operations and crew suite. Prior to Sabre, John was with Chief Commercial Officer at Jet Asia Airways, a Thailand based carrier operating charter and scheduled services from Thailand to North Asia, South East Asia and the Middle East and formerly was Vice President Airline Account Management South East Asia and Airline IT Sales with Amadeus. John has over 20 years of experience in the airline and airline distribution and technology field and has worked with many carriers across the Asia Pacific region.

	Mildred Cheong General Manager Asia Pacific Air Black Box Mildred Cheong is a senior business executive with strong background and experiences in the travel and tourism industry. She spent a good part of her career with Travel Innovation Partners, Abacus International, and with US Airways.Her specialty is in business development and regional marketing of travel and airline innovation and technologies. Mildred has a proven record in market entry strategy, business growth plan execution, product positioning strategy, regional marketing, channel management and account management.Her expertise spans across various functions within an organization. Equipped with extensive Asia market knowledge, her market domain covers Asia Pacific. Generally, Mildred prefers to be call an entrepreneur and a hunter.

	Mr Ken Choi CEO Jeju Air Mr. Choi, was appointed as the CEO of Jeju Air in 2012. Under his leadership, airline revenue have grown over 20% each year to USD$600 million with over 7 million annual passengers, positioning Jeju Air for a successful IPO in November 2015. Prior to Jeju Air, Mr. Choi demonstrated successful investment track record at global financial institutions and venture capital companies including Citigroup, Sit/Kim International and East Gate Capital Management. Mr. Choi also brings a strong government connection, having served as the President of the Korea Game Industry Agency, governing and promoting the digital media industry in Korea. Mr. Choi is a CFA, and earned Master’s degree in Engineering Management from Stanford University and a B.S. in Engineering from Seoul National University.

	Mr Conrad Clifford Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific IATA Conrad Clifford is the Regional Vice President for Asia Pacific at the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Conrad is responsible for IATA’s activities across the Asia Pacific region, focusing on serving the regions airline members’ and stakeholders’ needs. He will place a key priority on further developing IATA’s partnerships across the region, enabling IATA global standards and perspective to deliver maximum value to the safe, sustainable and profitable development of aviation. He joined IATA on 1 February 2014. Prior to joining IATA, Conrad has a career in aviation spanning more than 33 years. He has CEO’d a startup, a domestic, a regional and an international carrier. He has an intimate knowledge of top brand carriers having worked for Cathay Pacific, Virgin Atlantic and Emirates. Conrad has lived and worked in Asia, Africa and Europe and has a broad and indepth knowledge of strategy and business planning, pricing and revenue management and airport operations. Conrad, a British national, was born in the United Kingdom in 1958 and graduated from Cambridge University. He has obtained an MBA from Durham University Business School. He has broad international working experience and is able to converse in Mandarin Chinese and some French, German, Korean, Thai. Conrad is married with two sons. He enjoys outdoor activities like jogging and playing golf.

	Mr Andrew Cowen CEO HK Express Andrew, now at his 7th low cost airline, is a specialist in start-up/early stage, high growth LCCs having focused on the sector for the past 16 years. Most recently, from Mar 2013 to date, Andrew has been working at HK Express (www.hkexpress.com) driving its transformation into a low cost carrier (LCC). Operating a fleet A320s growing to over 30 aircraft by the end of 2017, HKExpress is rapidly growing its route network across Asia. Recognition: 1. One of the top 10 safest LCC’s in the world, 2. Offering the second lowest fares per kilometre for all international carriers 3. The leading OTP amongst all Hong Kong base carriers since launch as an LCC 4. Consistently high customer service scores and low complain rates 2015 marked the move into sustained profitability achieved through continued cost reduction and business expansion. Moving into 2016, HKExpress led the founding of the world’s first LCC alliance U-Fly Alliance (www.uflyalliance.com), laying a platform for further market penetration and business growth. This was followed in April 2016 with the launch of reward-U, HKExpress’ innovative guest loyalty programme, which is already demonstrating its popularity with frequent travellers. Andrew has previously held C-level management and/or advisory positions at a number of LCCs including VietJet Air, Peach, AirPhil Express, Jazeera, Sama, Silverjet, Go. Andrew started his career with British Airways.

	Alexandra Fitzpatrick General Manager, Pacific Travelport Alex Fitzpatrick was appointed General Manager, Pacific in July 2012, to oversee Travelport’s commercial operations and business growth across the Pacific region, which include Australia, New Zealand and from 2013 Travelport’s NDC in Papua New Guinea. As the General Manager, Alex also supports and leads the deployment of new Travelport technologies to customers in the Pacific. Alex is a seasoned travel industry veteran with over 25 years of experience encompassing technology, airline, hotel and corporate roles. Prior to joining Travelport, Alex was based in London as a Director for Travel Management Solutions (TMS) – an Australian company which provides travel management and procurement services to corporate customers and the government sector. She also spent time working for Sabre and IATA in Geneva, where she was responsible for BSP operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Alex has also owned and operated two award-winning hotels, one of which was under the Best Western brand. Her past experience also includes two previous roles with Galileo, based in the UK, where she was initially employed in product marketing and was later promoted to the Director of Distributor Sales for EMEA. Alex is based in Travelport’s regional headquarters in Sydney.

	Mr William A. Franke Managing Partner United States Indigo Partners Bill Franke is the Managing Partner of Indigo Partners LLC, a private equity fund focused on air transportation investments. The fund currently has major investments in Volaris Airlines (Mexico), Wizz Air (Hungary) and Frontier Airlines (U.S.). During Mr. Franke’s business career he has been the Chief Executive Officer of a Fortune 500 forest products company, which he repositioned strategically, tripled its revenues and achieved record profits before merging it with another company at the industry’s highest per ton valuation; Chairman of the Executive Committee of a large regional bank whose management he restructured; Chief Executive Officer of a large U.S. convenience store company, which he restructured; and, from 1993 to August 2001, Chief Executive Officer of America West Airlines (now American Airlines), which he managed through a bankruptcy into an airline that from 1994 to 2000 had the highest EBITDAR margins of the major U.S. airlines and won two J.D. Power awards for its service. Mr. Franke was Managing Partner of Newbridge Latin America, a private equity fund focused on Latin America, which made investments in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina in a variety of businesses including retail, manufacturing and insurance. Newbridge was wound up in 2012 on sale of its last investment. Mr. Franke served as the founding chairman of Airplanes Group, Ltd., a US$5 billion aircraft finance vehicle created from the aircraft portfolio of GPA Group plc, the Irish aircraft leasing company, and supported by GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS). He was involved in the 1998 acquisition of GPA (then renamed AerFi Group) by Texas Pacific Group and served on AerFi’s board of directors until it was sold in 2000. Also, along with an investment group led by David Bonderman, Mr. Franke was a pre-IPO investor in Ryanair and a founder of Hotwire, the travel internet site. Mr. Franke was the Founding Chairman of Tiger Airways (Singapore), was the Chairman of Spirit Airlines (U.S.), serves as Chairman of Wizz Air Limited (Hungary), is a director of Volaris (Mexico), and is the Chairman of Frontier Airlines (U.S.) In addition, he has served on several public company boards of directors in a variety of industries. Mr. Franke was born in Texas and raised in Latin America. He has undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford University and was awarded an honorary Ph.D. from Northern Arizona University, whose business college is named after him.

	Mr Ilya Gutlin President, Asia Pacific SITA Ilya Gutlin was appointed President, Asia Pacific, in March 2012. Prior to this Ilya had been Vice President, Airport Solution Line SITA for over two years where he was the architect behind SITA’s ‘Intelligent Airport’ vision. SITA's growing portfolio of airport solutions is used by airports and airlines at more than 400 locations worldwide and covers the entire airport ecosystem. Ilya joined SITA in 1998 as a financial controller and from 2003 to 2009 successfully led the regional sales team in East and Central Europe. Born in St Petersburg, Russia, he graduated with distinction with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University in Montreal. Ilya is fluent in Russian and English and speaks French. He is based in Singapore.

	Jonathan Hardy VP Sales Asia ADARA With 20 years of experience in the region, Jonathan Hardy is recognized for his knowledge and background in the Asian media industry. Jonathan currently leads sales strategy and operations in Asia Pacific for ADARA, the leader in leveraging global travel data to drive future business performance. Prior to joining ADARA, Jonathan served as Microsoft’s sales strategy lead in Asia, where he was responsible for developing multi-channel advertising sales strategies across several platforms and applications. Before his tenure with Microsoft, Jonathan was based in Hong Kong, where he founded the regional sales agency, Energy Media Networks. Additionally, he served as managing director at Dow Jones International Marketing Services where he led regional sales and marketing teams for The Wall Street Journal and wsj.com.

	Andrew Harrison Chief Executive Advisor Mactan-Cebu International Airport Andrew has worked in the Air Transportation (Airports) industry for the last 26 years in 12 airports globally and has gained considerable experience in Airport Operations, Airport Development and Airport Privatization at a senior leadership level. His key expertise today is in the development of airport projects at a transformational level which entails leading the Project Team through facilities enhancement (Landside, Terminal and Airfield), leading the Management Team through the development of a lean and efficient organization structure populated by motivated and trained personnel to deliver business results based on the strategic objectives aligned to the mandate of the Shareholders and the Board of Directors. He is currently serving as the Chief Executive Advisor, MactanNCebu International Airport and his previous roles include Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Delhi International Airport, Chief Executive Officer of Male’ International Airport (Maldives), Chief Operating Officer of Delhi International Airport, Chief Operating Officer of Hyderabad International Airport and Airport Operations Director for London Luton Airport. In addition, he has held various operational roles in Airports in the USA, South America, Saudi Arabia and England. Under GMR, where he has worked for the last 10 years he has delivered GMR’s core competence of transforming legacy airports under the PPP initiative into efficient, award winning airports that have achieved significant revenues whilst at the same time providing world class airport facilities for the benefit of airlines and passengers. GMR, in all it’s projects seeks to play a significant role in economic contribution to the local economy, development of people skills to equip them for roles in more advanced airports as well as community support initiatives through its CSR Programme. Andrew has lived in 18 different countries and gained his education in the USA and England. He is married with 4 children and his interests outside of work include mountain biking, swimming and basketball.

	Mr Ian Heywood Global Head Product & Marketing, Air Commerce Travelport Ian has recently been appointed to the new role heading up Product and Marketing for the Air Commerce line of business. This role involves owning the overall responsibility and being fully accountable for end-to-end product life cycle management for all Air line of business products, from Conception (including customer research, commercial team input, R&D work and competitive analysis), Launch and Adoption (including customer operations and ongoing marketing/positioning), Ongoing growth and Product retirement/sunset. Ian joined Travelport 3.5 years ago where a key part of Ian’s work has been the launch of the Travelport Merchandising Platform with ‘Aggregated Shopping’ ‘Ancillary Services’ and ‘Rich Content and Branding’ which enables airlines to adapt their business models to whichever competitive/economic environment they operate in and for travel agents to access enhanced airline content in their normal workflow. Prior to Travelport, Ian spent the majority of his working life at British Airways, where he joined as an apprentice and held a number of commercial roles in the UK and overseas. He has also worked for Qatar Airways as SVP Global Sales and Distribution.

	Mr Jonathan Hutt Social Marketing Director Spring Airlines With over 20 years marketing and communication experience in the North-Asia region, Jonathan Hutt currently serves as Deputy General Manager (Strategy) and Social Marketing Director at Spring Airlines, China’s first Low Cost Carrier. Since joining Spring in 2010, Jonathan has devised and lead the company’s international expansion strategy resulting in the airline’s successful entry into the Japanese, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South East Asian markets. Furthermore, he was instrumental in creating a new Social Marketing Center. Combining the company’s Communications, Branding and Social Media teams, this Center focuses on creating new sales and distribution channels that within eighteen months have become responsible for over 5% of company revenues. Prior to joining Spring, Jonathan worked as a consultant providing business development and market entry strategies, product positioning reports, market segmentation and consumer behavior analysis for a number of international brands including Harley Davidson, Tesco, LVMH and Coca-Cola Amatil. Jonathan holds a PhD in East Asian Studies frm the Australian National University. He is also serves on the Board of Directors at GV Art, a London gallery whose exhibitions seek to foster discourse and collaboration between the international artistic and scientific communities.

	Mr Benyamin Ismail Acting CEO AirAsia X Berhad Benyamin Ismail was appointed as AirAsia X Berhad Acting Chief Executive Officer effective 30 January 2015. Benyamin joined AirAsia Berhad in March 2010, most recently playing the role Group Head of Corporate Development, Implementation and Investor Relations. He led the group in corporate development, finding strategic opportunities to complement AirAsia’s airline and non-airline businesses through Mergers and Acquisitions, investments and special projects. He also managed regional IR, communicating the AirAsia Group strategy, growth and outlook to the investor community. Prior to joining AirAsia, Benyamin had an illustrious eight-year career in the Investment Banking industry with firms such as CIMB Investment Bank, Maybank Investment Bank and Affin Investment Bank, giving him a wide understanding of the overall financial industry. Benyamin played a pivotal role in enhancing AirAsia’s growth to become one of the most attractive companies on the Bursa Stock Exchange in Malaysia in terms of transparency, investor returns and Corporate Governance. Under his leadership, AirAsia became one of the most covered stocks by domestic and international brokerage houses and was awarded the Best Investor Relation Company four years in a row by Corporate Governance Asia. Benyamin received the award of Best IR Professional in 2011 and 2012 by Bursa’s Malaysian Investor Relation Association. As well as the ‘Best Investor Relation Professional’ award four consecutive times. Benyamin holds a degree in Bachelor of Commerce (Banking & Finance) from Curtin University of Technology, Australia and a Masters in Electronic Commerce from Edith Cowan University, Australia. He represented Western Australia in the Rowing Nationals in his first two years of University and is currently active in football, basketball and Muay Thai.

	Mr Carl Jones Senior Director Carlson Wagonlit Travel Solutions Group Asia Pacific Carl heads CWT Solutions Group in Asia Pacific, the consultancy division of Carlson Wagonlit Travel. He has an in-depth understanding of the corporate travel space working with corporate travel and procurement professionals to find opportunities for savings and deliver more value in areas such as air, hotel and ground transportation sourcing, travel policy and compliance. Carl is a travel enthusiast who’s passion has taken him on solo expeditions to East Africa, Pakistan, Papua and North Korea. He has spent more than a decade living and working across the Asia Pacific region, has a doctorate in Physics and recently completed a Masters degree, specialising in International relations with a focus on Asia Pacific.

	Dr Cheung-kwok Law Senior Research Fellow Aviation Policy and Research Centre The Chinese University of Hong Kong Dr. Cheung-kwok Law is the Director of Aviation Policy and Research Centre, and Senior Research Fellow of the Global China Research Programme of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He served as the Senior Researcher of Fung Global Institute, Regional Research Director of Bankers Trust Securities, Senior Economist of HSBC and the Hong Kong Government previously. Currently, he is a Member of the Working Group on Transportation of the Economic Development Commission of the HKSAR Government, and was a Member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (1994-2007) and the Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (1995-1998). Dr. Law received his Bachelor Degree (Economics) from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Ph.D. (Economics) from University of California (Los Angeles).His recent publications (as co-author) include: (i) RMB Rising: A New Global Monetary System Emerges, Wiley, 2016; and (ii) China’s Evolving Growth Model: The Foshan Story, Kindle edition, 2015.

	Jae Woon Lee Assistant Professor Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Asia Dr. Jae Woon (June) Lee is Assistant Professor at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Asia. He teaches aviation law, airline management, and aviation policy. Having studied in Seoul (HUFS), Montreal (McGill), and Singapore (NUS), Dr. Lee has 7 years of work experience in the airline industry. Since 2012, he has been a consultant to the Korean Government on aviation law and policy issues. Dr. Lee has published many articles in international journals, including Annals of Air & Space Law, Air & Space Law, Journal of Air Law and Commerce, Issues in Aviation Law and Policy, Journal of East Asia and International Law, and Hong Kong Law Journal. His book was published in August 2016 (Regional Liberalization in International Air Transport: Towards Northeast Asian Open Skies).

	Yangmin Li Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Party Secretary China Eastern Airlines Mr Li Yangmin is Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Party Secretary for China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited and Vice Secretary of Party for China Eastern Air Holding Company. He sets on the board for China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited. In his current position, Mr. Li oversees China Eastern’s publicity, logistics and cargo, and information technology. He started his career in the aviation industry in 1985, and served as Deputy Director of Maintenance Base Station and Manager of Line Maintenance Division for Northwest Airlines in China, Director of Maintenance Base Station for China Eastern Airlines Northwest Branch, Deputy General Manager for China Eastern Airlines Northwest Branch and General Manager for China Eastern Airlines Yunnan Branch. In Oct. 2005, he became Vice President for China Eastern Airlines and set on the position of Chief Safety Officer during July 2010 to Dec. 2012. In May 2011, he became member of Party Committee for China Eastern Air Holding Company, and Party Secretary and Board Member since July 2011. During the period from Feb. 2012 to Jan. 2013, he was also Chairman of China Cargo Airlines. Mr. Li Yangmin graduated from Civil Aviation University of China and Northwestern Polytechnical University. Additionally, he received MBA from Fudan University and is a certified professor-level senior engineer.

	Didier Mamma Head of Sales & Marketing Travel Intelligence Amadeus Didier Mamma was appointed Head of Sales & Marketing of Amadeus Travel Intelligence in January 2016. Previously, Didier held various positions of expertise at SAP, including Vice Presidencies for EMEA Cloud Solutions and Big Data & Digital Transformation Sales in addition to his role as Head of Big Data for In-Memory Technologies. As a scientist with an MBA business background, Didier Mamma has over 15 years of experience in the technology industry. Along with leading the EMEA region at a high level of management, Didier has also worked in the Silicon Valley as CMO during the internet boom which put him right at the heart of several innovations. Over the last seven years through his strategic and business functions, Didier Mamma has developed a holistic knowledge on cloud computing, big data and real-time data driven enterprise architecture. Didier’s flair for technology has led to invaluable contributions to projects such as the book Sustainable IT Architecture (The progressive way of overhauling information systems with SOA (Wiley edition) and LHC (Large Hadron Collider) work in Europe. Didier is also a guest speaker at the famous French business school: ESSEC, HEC.

	James Marshall VP Transport Partner Services APAC, Commercial Strategy & Services Expedia Group James Marshall serves as Vice President, Transport Partner Services, Asia Pacific for Expedia group, which operates more than 200 travel booking sites in more than 75 countries worldwide across its portfolio of online travel brands including Expedia, Hotels.com, Hotwire, Egencia, Orbitz, Venere, AirAsiaGo, lastminute.com.au and Wotif. The Commercial Strategy and Services group at Expedia is the organization responsible for creating global, integrated strategies for air, car, package, rail, cruise and insurance lines of business. In his role, James leads an experienced team of account managers who are directly responsible for managing key brand relationships with airline supply partners throughout the Asia Pacific region, and supporting the marketing and distribution of flights and holiday packages on Expedia group sites worldwide. James joined Expedia in 2010 after ten years in a variety of roles with Amadeus, where he served most recently as regional director of airline distribution sales in Asia Pacific. James holds an MBA from INSEAD. He also graduated from ESCP Europe where he earned a master’s degree in international management. James maintains triple citizenship from Spain, France and the UK and has lived in Asia for more than 20 years. He currently resides in Singapore with his wife and two daughters.

	Mr Robert Martin Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer BOC Aviation Mr Robert Martin has 28 years of experience in the aircraft finance and leasing business. He joined the Company in 1998 and has led the organisation through a successful expansion programme which has seen it emerge as a consistently profitable and leading player in the global aircraft leasing business, and successfully achieved a public listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 1 June 2016. Under his leadership, the Company has been accorded investment grade corporate credit ratings of A- from Fitch and A- from Standard and Poor’s. Mr Martin is now one of the longest serving CEOs of the same company in the aircraft leasing industry. Mr Martin began his career in aircraft financing in London with Bank of America in 1987. He subsequently held senior positions in both London and Singapore with The Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, Ltd. before moving to HSBC Investment Bank in Hong Kong where he held the position of Aircraft Finance Director. In addition to his role as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Mr Martin holds a seat on the Board. Mr Martin holds a Master of Arts degree in Economics from Cambridge University. He is a Fellow Benefactor of Selwyn College, University of Cambridge.

	Mr John McCulloch Partner Seabury Aviation Consulting John McCulloch was Managing Partner of the oneworld airline alliance from 2003 – 2010, which he joined at the establishment of the alliance headquarters in Vancouver in June 2000 as VP Marketing & Customer Experience. Prior to oneworld he was Head of Group Marketing for the banking giant HSBC, based out of London. Before that he spent 15 years with the Swire Group in Hong Kong and Japan, working primarily in the airline industry with Cathay Pacific Airways in a variety of management positions. He has a law degree from Cambridge University, and has lived or worked in most countries in the Asia Pacific region, travelling extensively particularly for his work with oneworld, and latterly with the Seabury. He now runs his own consulting and business advisory business working in various sectors related to the travel industry, and is a Senior Principal for Seabury Consulting and Aerospace.

	Dan McKone Senior Director & Managing Director L.E.K. Consulting Dan McKone is a senior partner and managing director and a member of the firm’s Global Leadership Team. He is Head of the Travel & Transportation practice in the Americas, Global Airline Lead and a member of the firm’s Consumer sector steering committee.Over the years, he has advised many of the world’s largest Airlines, Hotel groupsand companies in the broader Travel ecosystem. Over the last 20+ years, he has consulted a wide variety of global clients on topics of growth, performance optimization and business transformation. Dan has directed more than 300 major engagements spanning all aspects of consumer-facing strategy. In particular, he specializes in business model evolution, is a frequently cited expert on Customer Loyalty and co-leads L.E.K.'s Edge Strategy® service line. He is a frequent speaker and has written many papers and articles on corporate strategy, economic trends and marketing performance. Dan and his ideas have been featured on Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Bloomberg, Fox Business News, INC. and a variety of other major publications. In 2016, he was the co-author of "Edge Strategy, A New Mindset for Profitable Growth", published by Harvard Business Review Dan previously worked in Latin America for a large multinational corporation. He has an MBA in finance from Wharton and a BA, Magna cum Laude, from Dartmouth College with dual majors in economics and government.

	Mr Akira Mitsumasu Vice President, Marketing & Strategy Asia & Oceania Region Japan Airlines Akira Mitsumasu joined Japan Airlines in 1989, and has previously been responsible in the company for passenger services, network planning, international affairs, business development in China and internal auditing, before taking on the role from June 2014 as VP for marketing and strategy research of JAL's Asian and Oceania region. Akira holds a DBA from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, where his research was on parent and subsidiary relationship of Japanese corporate groups.

	Oriel Morrison Anchor CNBC Oriel Morrison is the co-anchor of CNBC'sStreet Signs, based in Singapore.Street Signsfollows the day's biggest moves to provide viewers with actionable, real-time insights. From the anchor desk to the trading desk, the show helps you to capitalize on the plays of the day. One of Australia's most prolific business journalists, Oriel Morrison has almost a decade of business and financial news reporting experience. She joined CNBC from Bloomberg, where she was a reporter and producer for Bloomberg Television News and Bloomberg Radio. Prior to that, she was with the Nine Network as one of the presenters of the Today Show and Business Sunday. Oriel also regularly anchored Qantas National Nine News and National Nine News updates. She has also been a regular Anchor for Sky Business News and produced and presented news for various Channel 7 news programs.

	Peter Negline Head of Strategy and Market Research BOC Aviation Mr. Negline joined the Company as Senior Vice President, Structured Finance in 2008 and was appointed Head of Strategy & Market Research in 2010. In this current role, he is responsible for advising the Chief Executive Officer on all factors external to the company, including the macro-economy, financing markets, airline industry performance, aircraft manufacturers and competition in the leasing markets. Prior to joining the airline industry, Mr. Negline was the Chief Financial Officer of an Asian-based low cost carrier. He was also a research analyst covering the Asia-Pacific Transportation sector in Hong Kong for 12 years. Before moving to Asia, he worked for 10 years with a number of investment banks in Australia, including working on the Qantas initial public offering in 1995. Mr. Negline graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne, and holds a Master of Applied Finance from Macquarie University in Australia. He is the founder of the Asia-Pacific Aviation and Aerospace Forum (APAAF), an industry group of professional researchers and forecasters.

	Mr Keisuke Okada Special Advisor to the Chairman ANA Holdings Inc Keisuke Okada joined ANA as a trainee aircraft engineer in 1974 after graduating from The University of Tokyo’s School of Engineering. He rose through the ranks and soon held a variety of managerial posts in ANA’s Engineering and Maintenance Division, including roles in Planning and Production Control. Okada moved on to Head Quarters as deputy director of Airline Alliances in 1998, where he oversaw ANA’s entry into the Star Alliance. He was then appointed Executive Vice President of Corporate Planning and Cargo Marketing & Services for ANA Group and promoted to the board of directors in 2004. From 2007 to 2013 he held the reigns of Alliances and International Affairs and was also responsible for the entirety of ANA’s IT services, which include the challenges of process innovation and digital marketing. During this time period, from 2010 to 2013, he was appointed to a chair of the Star Alliance Management Board where he created synergies and fostered positive business relationships with executives from other member airlines. In April 2014, he stepped down from the board of ANA and is now serving as the Special Advisor to the Chairman of ANA Holdings at his office in Tokyo. Okada is a cycling enthusiast and in his free time can often be seen enjoying the fresh air on his bike along the banks of the Tama River in suburban Tokyo. He currently resides in Tokyo with his wife, and is the proud father of two sons.

	Mr Barathan Pasupathi Chief Executive Officer Jetstar Asia Barathan Pasupathi (Bara), CEO Jetstar Asia and Valuair is also a Director on the Board of Jetstar Asia, Valuair and Newstar. Bara has more than 20 years’ experience in senior roles across the aviation and energy sectors and was a founding executive of Jetstar Asia, serving as its Chief Financial Officer from 2004 to 2007. His key achievements at Jetstar include helping to establish the airline in 2004, seeing through its merger with Valuair, fleet procurement and fuel hedging. Jetstar Asia has since become the largest and most profitable low fares airline in Singapore. Having held several leadership positions in Singapore, Europe and the Middle East, Bara has extensive exposure in oil market risk management, aircraft finance and leasing, and supply chain management. Bara expanded his aviation and finance experience as Chief Financial Officer for Middle East-based Jazeera Airways, during which the airline was successfully listed on the Kuwati Stock Exchange. He also played a key role in the establishment of Sahaab Aircraft leasing in Kuwait. Prior to being appointed CEO of Jetstar Asia, Bara was the Managing Director of Mabanaft Singapore Pte Ltd, a leading independent German oil trading group based in Singapore. Bara is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds a Bachelor of Commerce as well as a Masters in Business Administration. In 2013, Bara was recognised as Distinguished Alumni of Murdoch University WA.

	David Peller Director of Strategic Partnerships, Asia Pacific Booking.com David Peller was appointed Director of Strategic Partnerships for Asia Pacific at Booking.com in August 2015. Based in Singapore, he oversees the growth and development of strategic partnerships across airlines, financial institutions and other e-commerce businesses in one of the company’s fastest-growing regions. David came to Booking.com from Google, where he had worked for almost four years across Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. There, he held a number of positions including Head of Google Drive for Work and Chrome for Work, and APAC Strategic Partnerships & Business Development for Google+. Before joining Google in 2011, David held the position of Regional Vice President for ITA Software for over 7 years. Based in Boston, USA, David was responsible for international sales leadership and business development. He also oversaw the opening and management of the company’s international office in Amsterdam, where he was based for the later part of his tenure. David was also an entrepreneur, and in 1997, he founded the digital media business Wowgo Limited. Having secured multi-million dollar investment from Unilever and others, David headed the company as CEO for over three years. He qualified and worked as a solicitor in the UK after receiving his Bachelor of Law from King’s College London and his Postgraduate Diploma in Law from the College of Law, London

	Mr Ian Reid Senior Financial Adviser Philippine Airlines Ian is currently the Senior Financial Adviser to Philippine Airlines (PAL) where he is responsible for fleet acquisition, disposition and financing. Prior to this appointment, Ian has held various positions on different sides of the aviation finance industry including as an investment banker, a commercial banker, an aircraft lessor as well as an airline adviser. His previous position was with Swire Pacific where he was CEO of SkyWorks Capital Asia Ltd, a joint venture with Air China, Cathay Pacific and SkyWorks, where he acted as adviser to the shareholder airlines as well as a number of other airlines and aircraft lessors. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President with RBS Aviation Capital inaugurating the company's presence in Asia in 2002 with the opening of its Hong Kong office. During this time, RBS Aviation Capital grew from practically nothing to become one of the top 5 aircraft lessors globally. Prior to RBS Aviation Capital, Ian was Managing Director, Asia for the Transportation & Logistics Group of JP Morgan in Hong Kong and was Managing Director for Chase Manhattan Bank’s Global Aerospace Group between 1994 and 2000, working in both in Hong Kong and in London. He has had a long history with PAL and acted as financial advisor to the airline on the $2.2 billion restructuring during the Asian financial crisis. He started his banking career with Chase in London in the 1980s and prior to that began his professional career with Arthur Andersen & Co. in London as a management consultant. In 2002, he was recognized by Air Finance Journal as one of the 100 notable contributors to the air finance industry. Ian studied Management Sciences and is a graduate of Cambridge University in England.

	Paul Rombeek Head of Sales Jetstar Group Paul Rombeek is Head of Sales for the Jetstar Group, a role he took on in November 2014. As Group Head of Sales, Paul is responsible for the sales and business development across the Jetstar-branded group of low-cost carriers comprising Jetstar Airways in Australia/New Zealand, Jetstar Asia in Singapore, Jetstar Japan and Jetstar Pacific in Vietnam. Prior to that, Paul held the position of CEO, Tigerair Mandala, where he started and grew Indonesian low-cost carrier, Tigerair Mandala to a nine-aircraft (A320s) operation. Tigerair Mandala was a joint venture between Tiger Airways Holdings and Saratoga Capital Asia. Before Tigerair Mandala, Paul was the General Manager of Air France-KLM in Southeast Asia and Pacific, where he also held the post of Director CRM, responsible for the airline’s CRM strategy and customer experience implementation. Paul was also Country Manager for Air France-KLM in Norway, Iran and North Africa. Paul holds a Master Degree in Economics from the University of Maastricht (The Netherlands) and an Executive MBA from London Business School. He is married with 3 young children.

	James Stamp Global Head of Aviation, UK Head of Transport KPMG LLP James leads KPMG’s Global Aviation Group, and the UK Transport Sector. He also leads the UK Deal Advisory practice for transport clients. James has worked for a number of large corporate transport groups in the aviation, rail and bus, and shipping industries, and has extensive experience of strategic business planning, and cost reduction gained via his work in Private Equity. Prior to joining the transport group, James spent two years in the US KPMG practice helping build their transaction advisory capability. He has also worked extensively with some of the largest Private Equity houses in Europe.

	Dr Alan Khee-Jin Tan Professor of Aviation Law National University of Singapore (NUS) Dr Alan Tan is Professor of Aviation Law at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Law School. Born in Penang, Malaysia and educated at the NUS and Yale Law Schools, Alan teaches aviation law, shipping law and environmental law. He has been a Justices’ Law Clerk in the Supreme Court of Singapore and heads the Air Law & Policy programme at the NUS Centre for International Law. He is an instructor at the Singapore Aviation Academy (SAA) and course trainer for the IATA Training and Development Institute. In 2009, Alan was appointed a Hauser Global Visiting Professor at the New York University (NYU) School of Law, where he taught a course on Global Aviation Law and Policy. He has also been a frequent speaker at the annual IATA Legal Symposium. Alan’s research interests lie in the liberalization of the aviation industry in Asia. He has been a consultant to the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on aviation liberalization in Asia. He has been a consultant with CAPA Consulting on a landmark study for the ASEAN Secretariat on the prospects for a single aviation market in Southeast Asia (“Developing ASEAN’s Single Aviation Market and Regional Air Services Agreements with Dialogue Partners”). He has also served as consultant to the ASEAN Air Carriers Association on the interpretation of fifth and seventh freedom rights in the ASEAN multilateral agreements for air transport liberalization. On the governmental side, Alan has worked with and presented at the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (on the Damascus Agreement) and the Indonesian Directorate-General for Civil Aviation (on “open skies” in Indonesia). He has also spoken at various industry seminars, including for IATA and Embraer. Alan has published extensively on aviation issues in leading journals such as the Annals of Air and Space Law (Canada), the Journal of Air Law & Commerce (U.S.A.), the Journal of Air Transport Management (Netherlands) and Air & Space Law (Netherlands). In 2006, his article “Liberalizing Aviation in the Asia-Pacific Region: The Impact of the E.U. Horizontal Mandate” was published in the Air and Space Law journal and won the Diederiks-Verschoor Prize for Best Publication in Air and Space Law, awarded by Kluwer Law International. Alan has also authored opinion pieces on Asian aviation in industry publications such as CAPA’s Airline Leader, Airline Business and in broadsheets such as the Straits Times. He is currently working on antitrust issues relating to airline alliances and joint ventures in Asia, particularly in Singapore and China.

	Mr Benson Tang Regional Director, Asia Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) Benson Tang, has been for the past four years “ACTE Regional Director, Asia” based in Hong Kong. Before joining the team, he worked in Goldman Sachs Asia LLC for the past 11 years, responsible for the corporate travel program for the whole Asia region. He worked in various different travel industry leadership positions before joining the corporate travel industry including Cathay Pacific Airways, The Hong Kong Tourism Board and Farrington American Express Travel. Benson is currently a part-time student for his Doctoral Degree in Hotel and Tourism Management in The School of Hotel and Tourism Management in The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He received his Master degree at The University of Birmingham in UK. He was the first ever 1st class honour graduate in Bachelor of Arts in Tourism Management in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

	Laurens van den Oever CMO ForwardKeys Laurens recently joined the Valencia based travel analytics startup ForwardKeys as their CMO. ForwardKeys allows companies operating in the travel ecosystem to better anticipate demand by having real-time access to who’s traveling tomorrow in any part of the world. After his studies at the Breda University he completed his master in retail marketing, and started at KLM and Ericsson to continue his career at GfK, one of the leading market insights companies worldwide. In various roles and for different industries he developed new ways of monitoring consumer demand. In his previous role he was responsible for all Travel & Hospitality activities within GfK. Laurens mission is to scale down data complexity towards down-to-earth core take-always, powered by a wealth of knowledge coming from a young company with a big ambition.

	Mr Chu Viet Cuong Member Board of Management Vietjet Air The member of Board of Managment, Mr. Chu Viet Cuong is a senior expert in the banking and finance field. His domestic experience is strengthened by two years of working abroad at the Southeast Asian Strategy Institute in Singapore, which was established by the former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Mr. Cuong also held multiple key positions at large corporations: he worked at Marubeni (a leading Japanese corporation), was the director of ANZ Bank Vietnam, and was the general director of the joint-venture GPS between BNP Paribas Bank and Prévoir Vietnam. Most recently, Mr. Cuong was a member of Prudential Vietnam's management board

	Mr Stephen Wang Vice President Spring Airlines Stephen joined Spring Airlines in 2008 taking on the position of Vice President with responsibility for Business Development. Stephen has devoted his time to exploring new avenues for growth in the Chinese domestic market while paving the way for international expansion as Spring became the first Chinese airline to be granted an international operating licence in 2010. He is also instrumental in searching for new strategic partners in the aviation, travel, and technology sec tors who can assist the China’s first low cost carrier become one of dominant players in the dynamic and highly competitive North Asia region. Prior to joining Spring, Stephen worked in the US for Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, Bearing Point Management & Technology Consultants, and Hewitt Associates. He holds a MSc (Economics) and an MBA from Southern Illinois University.

	Mr Martin Warner Principal MW Travel Consultancy Limited Martin Warner has 35 years experience in Travel Distribution, is Principal at MW Travel Consultancy Limited providing advisory services to the travel and associated industries. He is a Founding Partner of KuriusSolutions with Martin Cowley, a global business that develops ideas and provides to solutions to opportunities to travel and related industries. Formerly Executive Vice President, Market Strategy & Segmentation at Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) a global leader specializing in business travel management, responsible for devising and implementing the Marketing Strategy of the business including Corporate Travel, focused on creating value based travel management solutions for corporate customers. From 2008 to 2011 Martin was COO, Asia Pacific at CWT with responsibility for all Asia Pacific Operations of the business. He served as a member of CWT's Executive Team for 10 years, reporting to Group CEO. He served in non-Executive board positions in the companies Jt-Ventures in China, Japan, India, Indonesia & South Africa, and Executive board member of subsidiaries in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong. From 2003 he served as EVP, Global Account Solutions at CWT responsible for the companies top 100 multinational client business, a US$4Bn top line business unit. Martin is based in London and Miami, spending time with clients in markets around the world. His recent engagements include – WEX, Travelport, ATPI, CAPA, Majid al Futtaim, Abacus, ComBTAS. In addition to his strategic advisory work, he is a much sought after facilitator, moderator and speaker.

	Paul Whiteway Commercial Director, Asia Skyscanner Paul is Skyscanner’s Commercial Director for Asia. He is responsible for leading the company’s sales and business development functions across Asia Pacific and is based in Singapore. He has been working with Internet companies since the industry’s formation and is experienced at scaling businesses in both start-up and corporate environments. He has previously been General Manager of the Internet Advertising Division for Yellow Pages Australia, VP for a telecommunications start-up in New York City and Business Manager for MSN in London. He has been working in Asia since 2007 where, amongst other roles, he held senior roles at Yahoo!, leading product, editorial and engineering teams across the region and was Chief Operating Officer for the ASX listed company, iProperty, based in Malaysia. Paul is also an Entrepreneur in Residence at INSEAD Singapore where he provides coaching and advice to students interested in entrepreneurship.

	Li Yangmin Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Party Secretary China Eastern Mr Li Yangmin is Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Party Secretary for China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited and Vice Secretary of Party for China Eastern Air Holding Company. He sets on the board for China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited. In his current position, Mr. Li oversees China Eastern’s publicity, logistics and cargo,and information technology. He started his career in the aviation industry in1985, and served as Deputy Director of Maintenance Base Station and Manager of Line Maintenance Division for Northwest Airlines in China, Director of Maintenance Base Station for ChinaEastern Airlines Northwest Branch, Deputy General Manager for China Eastern Airlines Northwest Branch and General Manager for China Eastern Airlines Yunnan Branch. In Oct. 2005, he became Vice President for China Eastern Airlines and set on the position of Chief Safety Officer during July 2010 to Dec.2012. In May 2011, he became member of Party Committee for China Eastern Air Holding Company, and Party Secretary and Board Member since July 2011. During the period from Feb. 2012to Jan. 2013,he was also Chairman ofChina Cargo Airlines. Mr. Li Yangmin graduated from Civil Aviation University of China and Northwestern Polytechnical University. Additionally, he received MBA from Fudan University and isacertified professor-level senior engineer.

	David Yong Commercial Director Flights TripAdvisor David ’s current role is Commercial Director of Flights at TripAdvisor, where he leads growth and development of partnerships across Asia Pacific. David was previously the Head of Product for Expedia Asia, where he launched Expedia's mobile-responsive websites, tablet, wearable, and mobile apps across 12 markets. He also consulted for Jetstar to relaunch their mobile products across APAC. David’s career in the online travel space began over 15 years ago at a small startup in New York City called Site59, which was acquired by Travelocity. During his tenure at Travelocity, he managed partnerships with Yahoo, AOL, Starwood, Marriott, United, Delta Airlines, Virgin Australia, Jetstar and American Express. He also led market-entry into Latin America, and then moved to Asia to drive growth for the Zuji brand in APAC. David holds an engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a masters from Columbia University in New York. He is an alumni of INSEAD’s General Management executive program. He currently resides in Singapore with his wife and two kids.

	Ms Xiuzhi Zhang CEO Spring Airlines Ms ZHANG Xiuzhi is the CEO and co-founder of Spring Airlines, one of China’s first private airlines and the country’s sole Low Cost Carrier. Since 2004, Ms Zhang has been instrumental in helping Spring develop a strong market presence in China’s booming aviation sector catering not only to China’s first time flyer market but also offering a new range of travel products targeting the increasingly more sophisticated and price-conscious business segment. A staunch advocate of the low-cost aviation model, Ms. Zhang has defied the critics and illustrated that not only could the LCC model work in China – it could thrive! Ms Zhang has been quick to take advantage of the favourable market conditions in China, guiding the company on a path of rapid growth and expanding its fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft in order to build a network that now covers all China’s major business and tourist routes. She also sees an important part of her role as developing strong working relationships with regional governments across China, creating mutually beneficial partnerships that not only help stimulate economic growth but provide Spring with access to China’s future economic powerhouses. Taking the airline international is also a critical part of the company’s revolutionary strategy. Ms Zhang worked to ensure that Spring became the first private carrier to be granted a license to fly internationally by the Civil Aviation Authority of China in 2010. Today the company flies to Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia and destinations across Japan. Prior to her current role, Ms Zhang served as Vice President of Spring International Travel Service in charge of the company’s charter operations. Within two years of joining the firm in 1992 she helped the company become the dominant player in the domestic travel industry – a position the company retains to this day.