CAPA Asia Aviation & LCC Summit 2014 Agenda*

North Asia has lagged well behind Southeast Asia in its penetration by LCC. China in particular has not supported homegrown LCCs. This is now changing and each of the North Asian nations is now well represented by their own models. As the competition increases and policy changes stimulate new entry - including more cross-border joint ventures - so the scenario changes. Which airlines prosper will depend on their business models, the positions they are able to establish in their home markets and the nature of competition in their key routes. This panel of North Asian leaders looks at the factors at play and why their own airlines will survive and prosper.

• Jeju Air, CEO, Ken Choi
• Tigerair Taiwan, CEO, Kwan Yue
• Vanilla Air, Executive Vice President - Operations, Hiroshi Kitahara
• Clyde & Co, Global Head of Aviation Finance, Paul Jebely

Despite common features, each country and sub-region has its own special features, as have the LCCs established there. Some are subsidiaries of full service airlines (flag carriers), some are cross border JVs, some are part of one of the major LCC groups. We look at the issues each is facing and how they are adapting to their own special environments.

• What are the common issues and challenges facing LCCs across Asia?
• How is each airline or group addressing them?
• Will only the major group airlines survive?
• Are there too many aircraft currently on order?
• On what terms can the long-haul LCCs prosper?

Moderator: Nyras Capital, Senior Vice President, David Huttner

• SpiceJet, Chief Operating Officer, Sanjiv Kapoor
• Scoot, CEO, Campbell Wilson
• Jetstar Asia, CEO, Barathan Pasupathi
• VietJet, Member of the Board of Directors, Chu Viet Cuong

Airports and distribution models are hastening to adapt to the many and varied new demands of airlines, full service, low cost and - increasingly – hybrid. These involve substantial investments and the market’s demands are changing almost daily. This session will look at how airports and distribution providers are facilitating the numerous requirements of long-haul to short-haul low cost feed, while still continuing to provide service for conventional operations.

Moderator: Nyras Capital, Senior Vice President, David Huttner

• Scoot, Head of Commercial, Steven Greenway
• Airport Authority Hong Kong, fmr CEO, Stanley Hui
• SITA, President Asia Pacific, Ilya Gutlin
• New Kansai International Airport, Managing Director & Executive Officer, Tadashi Shimura
  

• Asia’s carriers are behind in their use of social media compared with US/Europe. Who is benefiting from an advanced social media strategy?
• Travel search and mobile – how quickly is it growing and what are the hurdles to airline distribution and booking via mobile?

Moderator: Brand Karma, CEO & Co-founder, Morris Sim

• Facebook, Client Partner, Simrat Sawhney
• Navitaire, Product Director, John Aitken
  
• Spring Airlines, Deputy General Manager (Strategy)/International Brand Manager, Jonathan Hutt
• Wego.com, Chief Flights Officer, Dean Wicks
• AirAsia Expedia, CEO, Kathleen Tan
  

The combination of short-haul LCCs, the Gulf airlines and newly emerging long-haul low cost airlines is raising a whole new array of challenges for what have long been the world’s leading premium airlines. Leveraging the hub role means working with airports and refocusing networks through partnerships. What other strengths can full service carriers leverage as they refocus their strategies in this new and changing environment?

• How disruption is harming profitability
• Dealing with “excess capacity”
• Using partnerships to expand network coverage
• Maximising cargo revenues
• Working with subsidiaries to cover the market
• The strategy behind using different brands and avoiding brand pollution
• Getting route selection right to avoid cannibalisation
• Separation of management to ensure cost discipline
• Connecting services between the different brands
• The benefits of hunting in groups: joint procurement, greater market coverage... 

• What radical innovations are influencing customer behaviour?

• What new technologies are airlines embracing to increase revenue, reduce costs and improve customer service?
• How do airlines overcome the stumbling blocks to innovation?

Moderator: Heidrick & Struggles, Partner, Con Korfiatis

• CarTrawler, Chief Commercial Officer, Michael Cunningham
• SITA, Director of SITA Lab, Renaud Irminger
• Sabre Airline Solutions, Vice President Solutions Marketing, Stan Boyer
• Bravo Passenger Solutions, CEO, Jason Bitter  
• Amadeus, Director Revenue Management, Umit Cholak
• Travelport, Vice President Distribution Sales & Service, Damian Hickey

2015 was to be the major turning point in ASEAN airline liberalisation. But it looks unlikely now to bring more than a mild improvement. Much of the liberalisation has already been achieved, mainly through market changes such as cross border JVs. ASEAN was supposed to open up air services between smaller, non-gateway cities, but Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines – each with numerous such cities – are not prepared to exchange mutual access rights. One outcome will be that third country airlines eg from China will gain much better access than the ASEAN airlines. But that isn’t what the framers of the open skies agreement were thinking of.

• Are expectations of growth in ASEAN over-optimistic and have Southeast Asia’s airlines over-ordered aircraft as a result?
• What lessons are to be learned from the European experience
• Myanmar and Vietnam have seen a surge in aviation activity. What will determine the winners in these new markets?
• Will protectionism rear its head in Asia, reversing the gains of the past decade?

Moderator: National University of Singapore, Professor, Alan Tan

• Ince & Co LLP, Head of Commercial Aviation, Hugh O’Donovan
• AirAsia X, CEO, Azran Osman-Rani
• FMI Air, CEO, Bruce Nobles
• Transportation Partners, Chief Operating Officer, John Duffy

The sixth freedom centre of gravity has shifted west to the Gulf for much of Southeast Asia and, to a lesser extent, North Asia. The ingredients of the Gulf carriers’ success appear to make them invulnerable.

• Is there room for partnerships with the Gulf airlines
• The challenges for Asia’s hub airports: Asia’s response to rising long-haul competition

Moderator: Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), Director General, Andrew Herdman

• Finavia, CEO, Kari Savolainen M.Sc.
• Emirates, Manager International & Government Affairs, Trent Mumford
• Hong Kong Airlines, Assistant Director Commercial, Michael Burke
• CAPA - Centre for Aviation, Chief Analyst, Brendan Sobie
  

As the global airline market moves into a new era, many new strategies are being explored. The most radical is Etihad’s Equity Partnership, but there are many other new approaches to achieving what must eventually be the goal: making profits. The type of model adopted necessarily must adapt to fit each airline’s profile, in terms of such things as geography, their size, the nature of their home market,

• Does the equity model translate for all airlines
• Will the process of hybridisation accelerate in Asia?
• What role will subsidiaries and cross-border JVs play?
• Are there new airline business models, on the periphery, that will make their presence felt in Asia in the next five years?
• …and is Asia different from the rest of the world?

Moderator: Korn Ferry Singapore, Senior Client Partner, Torbjorn Karlsson

• L.E.K. Consulting, Managing Director and Partner, John Thomas
• YATES & Partners Thailand, Chairman and CEO, Keith Yates
• Mega Global Air Services (Maldives), CEO, George Weinmann
• Cebu Pacific, Chief Executive Advisor, Garry Kingshott
• Nyras Capital, Senior VP, David Huttner