Mr Choi also brings a strong government connection, having served as the president of the Korea Game Industry Agency (“KOGIA”), governing and promoting the digital media industry in Korea. It was the vice minister level position under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) 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. He currently serves as a board member of Blackstone Private Equity Korea, and a few tech companies in the US and Asia including Intematix and Time Voyager.

Jeju Air is the biggest and fastest growing LCC in South Korea. Jeju Air is a subsidiary of Aekyung Group in Korea, and currently operates 3 domestic and 14 international routes in Japan, China, and other Southeast countries. Jeju Air aims to become a major airline in the North Asian market as the new CEO on board.

Andrew is currently leading the transformation of Hong Kong Express, into a low cost airline. HK Express, an existing airline previously operating B737-800s has completed its transition to A320s, with the fleet expanding to 5 aircraft by Oct 2013. Preparations are underway for the Commercial relaunch of the airline.

Andrew’s experience includes:

A passionate thought leader on topics such as travel distribution, direct connect, merchandising and ancillary revenue, Mr Davidson was named one of the 25 Most Influential Executives in the Business Travel Industry byBusiness Travel News.

Prior to Farelogix, Mr Davidson held a series of senior positions in supply chain and travel distribution management, including president and CEO of NTE; and president and CEO of Amadeus Global Travel, North America. He holds a BA in Business Management, a Masters of Science in Education and an MBA.

Chris brings over 35 years of technology experience to SITA where he has worked for the last six years with one year in his present role. During the past 20 years he has lived in Singapore working for SITA and previously with the IBM and Unisys Transportation Practices across a wide range of roles including sales, consulting, program management and systems architecture. Recent focus has been on distribution trends including e-commerce.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Imperial College London and is an Associate of the City and Guilds of London Institute.

In 2000, Korean Air was a founding partner of SkyTeam Alliance with Delta, Air France and AeroMexico. Mr Hahm led the formation of the Alliance and was the Project Manager representing Korean Air. As Project Manager for the SkyTeam Alliance, he demonstrated strong strategic capabilities and project execution expertise both of which ensured the success of the Alliance.

Other noteworthy positions held by Mr Hahm at Korean Air include:

• Country Manager, UK. Ireland & South Africa
• Regional Manager, Eastern U.S.A.(Vice President)
• Head of Passenger Marketing(Managing VP)
• Head of Passenger Routes and Revenue Management (Managing VP)
• Head of Corporate Strategy and Planning (Senior VP)
• International Affairs (Senior VP) –most recent position at Korean Air

After Mr Hahm’s retirement from Korean Air, he worked briefly as the CEO of Dongsung HMC (Hotel Management Company)before being named the President and CEO of T’way Air in September 2011.T’way is one of the leading low-cost airline carriers in North East Asia and is based in South Korea. T’way is well known for its outstanding customer service and has received numerous awards from both the private and public sectors.

Late 2009 Ian returned back to the UK to run various consultancy projects until 2011 when Ian joined Travelport as Head of Global Supplier Strategy. In this role his key focus is to ensure that Travelport offers a consistent global approach to airlines worldwide that enables them to maximise their yields and increase revenue streams through the GDS channel. To further strengthen airline relationships and help enhance long term, mutually beneficial partnerships that enable airline customers to distribute their flights and merchandising content in a way that works for their key businesses and other key industry stakeholders. This has led to the launch of the Travelport Merchandising Platform with ‘Aggregated Shopping’ ‘Ancillary Services’ and ‘Rich Content’ which enables airlines to adapt their business models to whatever competitive/ economic environment they operate in and for travel agents to access enhanced airline content in their normal workflow.

David has undertaken business consultancy projects for a range of major aviation industry clients, including Navitaire, Macquarie Airports, Jersey Airports, Air Arabia, Air Baltic, Estonian Airways, Virgin Group, IFC (World Bank Group) and Oman Airports and has served on the Board of Directors for Barcelona based Vueling, one of Europe’s leading LCCs.

Con is an airline and aviation executive with over 20 years experience gained in a number of senior roles and airlines. Airline experience covers executive management, finance, strategy, commercial, brand and marketing, network, government affairs, alliances and airline operations. This experience has been across a number of Asia Pacific countries.

Experience in some of the region's most successful airlines including Qantas and Singapore Airlines and responsible for the establishment of Jetstar Asia as its founding CEO. Other previous management experience at both COO and CEO level, the latter at Citilink, Garuda Indonesia’s low cost airline and at Viva Macau Airlines.

Prior to joining Heidrick &Struggles working as a Senior Partner in a consulting firm, Flight Ideas Consulting, doing Board and Senior Management level advisory on best practice, growth, improvement and funding strategies for airlines, as well as being taking on management responsibility in implementing these strategies.

He has over thirty-five years experience in the airline industry. Patrick’s early career was with Aer Lingus where he was responsible for marketing, sales and strategic developments.

He left Aer Lingus in 1987 to become one of the founder members of a group which acquired the two state owned Ferry operators which became very successful and had an IPO in 1989. He also became non-executive Director of a number of Irish companies involved in information technology related to transport.

In 1992 he was appointed Chairman of Ryanair and oversaw its transformation from a traditional full-service regional airline into the low-cost airline that it is today.

For the past 15 years he has been a consultant and advisor to a number of airlines including LAN Chile, Gulf Air and All Nippon Airways as well as working for IATA.

He runs workshops and training sessions on management of low cost airlines and is a regular lecturer and speaker at many aviation events.

In November 2011 Patrick was appointed External Board Member at Peach Aviation Limited, Japan's first dedicated low cost carrier based in Kansai, Osaka. He continues to be Executive Advisor at Peach.

Despite a tumultuous 2008 and 2009 in global aviation, AirAsia X has expanded from one aircraft to eleven, tripling revenue and passenger volume to RM750 million and over 1 million passengers in 2009, and breaking the RM1 billion revenue mark in 2010, in its third full year of operations. AirAsia X now flies to twelve destinations across the Asia Pacific region – breaking many long-haul airline conventions and pioneering various innovative services, including the world’s first LCC flabed premium seats. Even with its nascent aircraft fleet, AirAsia X operates with the world’s lowest airline unit cost and the world’s highest aircraft utilization, while maintaining industry leading engineering reliability and on-time performance. Despite a lot of initial skepticism from industry observers, AirAsia X achieved positive operating cashflow in less than six months, ratcheted up over RM400 million in sales in its first year, and began operating with positive net profitability by the end of 2008.

AirAsia X is an associate of AirAsia Berhad, the public-listed largest low-cost airline in Asia. Through common shareholding, a long-term brand license agreement and shared services and resources, AirAsia X is able to capitalize on the strength of AirAsia’s global brand, unparalleled short-haul feeder network in Southeast Asia, and scale benefits from shared operations.

Based on its pioneering business model, AirAsia X has received tremendous international publicity, and has been recognized as the 2008 Best New Airline and jointly awarded the 2009 Airline of the Year award with AirAsia Berhad. It is also featured as the only Asian case study in ‘BOLD: How to be Brave in Business and Win’ by Shaun Smith.

Prior to his appointment, Azran was formerly the Senior Director of Business Development for Astro All Asia Networks plc, a leading Asian digital satellite television and radio broadcaster, where he led the start-up and operational launch of Astro’s international investments and joint ventures across Southeast Asia, India and Greater China – having oversight management responsibility for a portfolio of over US$300 million invested in these businesses.

Azran was formerly an Associate Partner of McKinsey & Company, an international management consultancy, where he co-led its Southeast Asia Corporate Finance & Strategy practice. He holds a Masters degree in Management Science and a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering, both from Stanford University. He is a Fellow of CPA Australia.

Azran was recently nominated to the Board of Directors of Tourism Malaysia by the Minister of Tourism. A prolific international speaker, he has been invited as one of the Young Leaders at the 2010 World Islamic Economic Forum and represented Malaysia as one of Asia Society’s 2009 Asia 21 Delegates. He is also a member of the Young Presidents Organisation (YPO).

He is 40 years young, a competitive Ultimate Frisbee player, a keen surfer and snowboarder, and has completed ten full marathons in the last 2 years.

He has authored/co-authored 35 books, over 110 refereed journal papers, and numerous reports for international organizations including World Bank, OECD, International Transport Forum, APEC, and for various government agencies, regulatory commissions and major corporations (Canada, United States, UK, Netherlands, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore). He has delivered over 300 keynote addresses, invited speeches/seminars, and presentations.

The honors and distinctions include the Distinguished Career Research Achievement Award from the (US) Transportation Research Forum (TRF, 2006); The Overall Best Paper Prize from the US TRF (2009 Annual Conference); The Overall Best Paper Prize from The World Conference on Transport Research Society (1998); Killam Research Prize of Canada-Senior Science Category (2002); Killam Research Fellowship (1988);. He has been a Distinguished Fellow of the Transportation and Public Utilities Group of AEA (TPUG) since 2004. He was decorated with a Medal of National Order of Merit by the President of the Republic of Korea (South) in 2005.

Before returning to Seoul and Jeju Air, Hyuk spent over a decade in San Francisco working first as an analyst for Roberts, Roach & Associates, a boutique consulting firm specializing in aviation, and then as a consultant for Unisys' Transportion Management Consulting practice. He has also held positions with American Airlines in Dallas, Texas, and with the Philadelphia International Airport. Hyuk holds a B.S. degree in Aviation Business Administration from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Patee received his secondary education in England at Kings School, Canterbury, and then spent his college years in the U.S.A., receiving a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration and Computer Science from Clark University, in Massachusetts, and a Masters Degree in Mass Communication Film and Video from American University in Washington, D.C.

Patee launched his career with advertising agency Lintas in 1983, as a Research Manager, and then took a 2 year break to complete his masters degree, followed by 2 years with NBC, the U.S. television network, on both the creative and production side.

Returning to Thailand in 1989, he joined SPA Advertising as Creative Liaison officer and a member of the Management Committee, and in 1991 became General Manager of Multi Media Orbit, a production house of SPA.

In 1992 Patee was appointed Managing Director and later CEO of Bates Advertising Thailand, a joint venture between SPA and Bates Worldwide. Under Patee’s management, Bates Thailand became the fastest growing advertising agency in Thailand, and included the famed creation of DTAC and its launch into the market.

In early 2004 Patee left Bates to join the new airline that was to become Nok Air as Chief Executive Officer, and has been a driving force behind the success of the airline, utilizing his marketing background and experiences and effectively applying them to Nok Air. Under Patee’s leadership Nok Air has seen continuous growth in terms of revenue, passenger numbers and destinations, as it reaches from its base in Thailand across Asia. Today Nok Air has already recovered the initial investment just after only two years of operation, and she continuously is growing towards a strong, profitable and a healthy company.

As his aviation career takes off, he continues to be invited to speak at various international aviation symposiums around the world including those in Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Sydney, New York and Houston.

Patee is currently an advisor to Minister of Tourism and Sports of Thailand. He is also an active player and a consultant to the Thailand Squash Team.

A seasoned executive with his extensive knowledge of e-commerce, online travel and his strong entrepreneurship, Kei is responsible for driving the company by shaping its strategy, making commercialization efforts and building organization.

Previously, Kei worked at Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan’s leading trading & investment firm, for 11 years. During his time with the company, among other roles, he played the key role in company’s largest M&A deal in its history to acquire the Lawson Inc., one of the largest convenience store chains in Japan and led the company’s joint e-commerce businesses with Lawson to pursue its post acquisition strategy.

Kei received a BA of Laws from Keio University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He serves as President of Venture Mitakai, an official Keio University’s alumni association for CEOs of venture businesses and also as one of the Executive Committee Members of HBS Club of Japan (Harvard Business School’s alumni association in Japan). He is also a member of Japan Association of Corporate Executives “Keizai Doyukai.”

As the Director of the Aviation Industries Division, Mr Shinohara addressed the easing of aviation regulations based on the open skies policy and the rehabilitation of Japan Airlines (JAL). In addition to his efforts to strengthen the international competitiveness of the Japanese aviation industry, Mr. Shinohara worked to develop an environment for the entry of LCCs into the Japanese market and contributed significantly to expanding international tourism exchange.

Mr Shinohara earned a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of Tokyo in 1983. Upon graduating, he joined the Ministry of Transport of Japan. Mr. Shinohara assumed posts at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and other organizations, giving him a wealth of international experience.

JTA is an external agency of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of the Japanese Government. Its mission is to strengthen the systems for the promotion of Japan as a Tourism Nation. Aiming to become a Tourism Nation, JTA promotes government-wide efforts to create attractive tourism destinations and revitalize international tourism.

Maunu has held executive level positions ranging from Sales & Marketing, General Management, Commercial Partnerships, International Relations and Global Airline Alliances. He has also been involved in developing new airline models as the CEO for two international low cost airlines. Maunu has also participated in developments taking place within the commercial space industries both in Sweden and in the USA.

Maunu has an MBA from Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburg, Scotland. Maunu has been mentoring students and the new generation of leaders within the airline and travel industries.

As Chief Marketing Officer, Dean managed marketing and business development across Wego's growing markets in SEA, India and the Middle East, focussing on SEO and cross channel promotions, PR, digital advertising, B2B and B2C solutions, brand performance, contract negotiations, supplier relations and distribution agreements.

His long history, understanding and great relationships with the aviation industry was effective in building Wego's solid global airline partnerships and expanding the company's rapidly growing airline inventory. In acknowledgement he was appointed to the role of Chief Flights Officer in mid 2013 and continues to build new partnerships, develop the strategy for new flight products and markets for the company and widen their considerable market reach.

Prior to Wego Dean held the role of Head of Marketing and Air Product for ZUJI/Travelocity in Australia and New Zealand and was instrumental in the growth of one of Australia's leading online travel agencies.

Other than online travel, Siew Hoon is passionate about inspiring young minds – which WIT does through its WITNext vehicle – and entrepreneurship and innovation through its WIT Bootcamp.

Siew Hoon is also a regular speaker and facilitator at travel industry conferences and workshops. She is also a published author, having written titles including “Truth, Lies & Other Stuff”, “Around Asia in 1 Hr: Tales of Condoms, Chillies & Curries” and “Losing My Innocence, Finding My Groove”.

In 2009, she co-wrote a children’s book “The Adventures of Habibi, The Wise Turtle”, with 17-year-old Nigel Chee for Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa, Oman, to promote environmental awareness and conservation of green turtles in the Oman area. In August 2012, her second children’s book, “The Story Of Baitong & Boon”, which she c0-wrote with 16-year-old Phantila Phataraprasit, was published.