CAPA World Aviation Summit 2014 Agenda

What are the big issues in the outlook for airlines in 2015? High level presentations from CAPA’s analysts on the global outlook, with a focus on Europe, the Atlantic and Asia 

• CAPA - Centre for Aviation, Chief Financial Analyst, Jonathan Wober
• CAPA - Centre for Aviation, Director South Asia, Binit Somaia

What’s the next chapter for the emerging markets? CEOs from a mix of airlines discuss how they see emerging markets developing and which markets and airlines are most likely to shine in 2015.

• Which regions have the biggest upside, highest/lowest risk?
• Which airlines are most likely to prosper?
• Ebola - how threatening is the crisis for African markets and economies? 

In an innovative and challenging feature, a panel of leading airline executives will construct the foundations for a new airline equipped to survive in today’s turbulent environment, with assistance from a seasoned airline expert or two. Watch a boardroom discussion as the executives answer three key questions:

• What are the key attributes of the airline (business model, branding, target market, reach)?
• What are the key start-up strategic decisions (fleet, capitalisation, distribution and pricing)?
• How will it be run - and who will run it?

• Brussels Airlines, CEO, Bernard Gustin 
• Navitaire, Head of Sales EMEA & Americas, Mike Thompson
• Zurich Insurance, Global Head of Travel Insurance, Philippe Cornet
• ALTA, HEICO, Advisor to the executive Board of ALTA and BDO HEICO, Alex de Gunten
• HNA Aviation, DGM International Investments, Michael Hamelink
  

A leading Antwerp diamond merchant explains how the diamond cutting and polishing industry was turned upside down by the advent of low-cost competition from India and elsewhere, and how Antwerp has had to re-invent itself, focusing on higher value stones and trading.

As airlines embrace merchandising as a necessary, revenue-increasing practice, what does the road ahead have in store and how can airlines – and the travel industry as a whole – evolve and thrive? Airlines  have  engaged in dynamic selling since the 1970s, but how do we, as an industry, define dynamic selling and customer-centric selling in the contemporary setting and how does technology impact these advances?

• What and where is the gap we need to bridge between merchandising, dynamic selling and customer-centric selling?
• How are traditional airlines, especially, constrained by the available technology?
• How have new entrants revolutionised revenue management and distribution models?
• Is API connectivity the ‘holy grail’ to enable unconstrained distribution, increased speed, sophistication and choice?
• What are the similarities, and the differences, between dynamic selling and customer-centric selling?
• Are airlines leaving money on the table, where customer-friendly initiatives would be both welcome and easy to deliver?

• Travelport, Vice President Global Supplier Strategy, Supplier Operations, Ian Heywood 
• Amadeus, Vice President of Distribution Marketing, Decius Valmorbida 
• Sabre Airline Solutions, Vice President Marketing Solutions, Stan Boyer
• Air China, Vice President & General Manager North America, Zhihang Chi 
• Thomas Cook Airlines, Commercial Director, Uwe Klenovsky 

This session is based on a confronting presentation by an travel expert.

Five airline executives will then have the opportunity to challenge the expert findings and to elaborate on their experiences in the market and how it is changing.

• Reducing the impact of travel friction, in terms of its impact on business traveller attrition, is a key to success.
• Using some key micro-economic principles, and a clear set of steps for getting airlines’ corporate customers to think more carefully about the benefits of business class travel, Scott Gillespie will lay out his views on how to make the business case to corporations for treating their travellers better.  
• This covers the factors affecting traveller burnout and the various levers companies have for reducing the risks.
• The benefit to the airlines is getting more companies to authorise business class travel for more travellers.
• Using a database of over 80,000 travellers, with Trip Friction scores for over 500,000 trips, the research behind Trip Friction is extensive.

• airBaltic, CEO, Martin Gauss
  
• Finnair, Chief Commercial Officer, Juha Järvinen 
• Croatia Airlines, President & CEO, Kresimir Kucko 
• Turkish Airlines, CEO, Temel Kotil

In this special session, leading airline network planning heads will provide insights into their near and longer-term route plans. Their presentations will be followed by a round-table discussion of the art and science of effective network planning.

• KLM, Vice President Network Planning, Pieter Groeneveld 
• Brussels Airlines, Vice President Network & Transversal Planning, David Lyssens
• OAG, Executive Vice President, John Grant

Panellists will debate the near term action and longer term vision required for:

• Ownership and control of airlines
• Connectivity: mobility and multi-modal
• Fair conditions for competition
• Airport capacity and ATM infrastructure across Europe
• What should the airline industry expect from these key policy areas?

• airBaltic, CEO, Martin Gauss 
• European Commission, Director Aviation & International Transport Affairs, Margus Rahuoja
• Brussels Airport CEO & ACI Europe President, Arnaud Feist 
• Dublin Airport, Managing Director, Vincent Harrison 
• European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA), Secretary General, John Hanlon 
• European Regions Airline Association (ERAA), Director General, Simon McNamara 
• Association of European Airlines (AEA), CEO, Athar Husain Khan

Relaxing the shackles on international operations has produced numerous innovations that are changing the world. But not everyone wants the world to change. There is a belief that in fact the regulatory clock will be wound back as “archaic” concepts of ownership and control are reinvigorated. Can the new wave be stopped, has the egg been scrambled?

• Is protectionism making a revival?
• What is the role of regulators in the process?
• The carriers of change: who has the vested interests in a changed system?
• Can the old norms – ownership and control, nationalism etc – ever be changed?
• Are metal-neutral JVs creating juggernauts, making new entry too hard?
• Do airports have a voice in the process?

• European Commission, Director Aviation & International Transport Affairs, Margus Rahuoja 
• International Airlines Group, CEO, Willie Walsh 
• Etihad Airways, Chief Strategy and Planning Officer, Kevin Knight 
• Aer Lingus, CEO, Christophe Mueller 
• Ethiopian Airlines, CEO, Tewolde GebreMariam 
• Lufthansa, Senior Vice President, Head of Corporate Strategy, Sadiq Gilani 
• ALPA, Senior Attorney, Russell Bailey

Unions come in for a great deal of criticism and high cost environments are attributed to continuous demands for pay increases. In the US 70% of airline employees are unionised, more than any other industry. But unions can play an important stabilising role and the influence is not all bad. As the operating environment changes rapidly, can unions adjust to new norms and support their employers in weathering the inevitable storms?

• Are unions all bad? How can they help management?
• Do they all want to maintain the status quo? And increase wages?
• Do pilots need protection from cost-push exploitations?
• What is the broad role of today’s aviation union? Have they helped their own causes?
• Is there a legitimate role for alliance unions?

• European Cockpit Association, Vice President, Jon Horne 
• ALPA, President, Lee Moak 
• International Airlines Group, CEO, Willie Walsh 
• Aer Lingus, CEO, Christophe Mueller
• CAPA - Centre for Aviation, Chief Financial Analyst, Jonathan Wober