City of Eternal Spring to Welcome Routes Asia Delegates

MANCHESTER, England, March 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Asia's largest route development forum returns to China bringing 800 aviation decision-makers to Kunming 

The 13^th Routes Asia, the largest route development forum for the entire Asia region, will open this weekend in Kunming, capital city of the Yunnan Province of China.

This year's event, which will take place from 15 to 17 March, is hosted by Yunnan Airport Group owners of Kunming Changshui International Airport and supported by their partners Yunnan Provincial Civil Aviation Development and Management Bureau and Yunnan Provincial Tourism Development Commission. The last time Routes Asia took place in China was in Chengdu in 2012, hosted by Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport who were subsequently selected to host World Routes, the 22^nd World Route Development Forum in 2016.

Routes Asia will bring together 800 delegates representing 118 airlines, almost 230 airports and almost 60 countries to develop new air services to, from and within the Asia-Pacific region. The event attracts the highest level of decision-makers, including many industry leaders and senior policy makers.

Mr. Tang Xuefan, President of Yunnan Airport Group Co., Ltd. Commented: "We are greatly honoured to host Routes Asia 2015 in Kunming. This great event is a good opportunity for Yunnan Airport Group Co., Ltd. and all airports in Asia to communicate with and work with airlines and tourism organisations. It is also a key platform to join the efforts of both the air transport industry and tourism industry for more sustainable development in Yunnan, China and the Asia-Pacific region. On behalf of YAG, I wish all delegates truly feel and enjoy the colourful Yunnan and paradise of tourism."

"We are very pleased to return this year to China with Route Asia 2015," said Katie Bland, Director Routes for UBM EMEA continuing: "Our Host, Yunnan Airport Group is very pro-active at marketing to airlines and has attended many Routes events. Through now hosting Routes Asia, they have the opportunity to showcase Kunming Changshui International Airport as well as the city of Kunming and Yunnan Province.  On behalf of Routes, I wish all delegates a productive and successful Routes Asia and hope that they will take every opportunity to explore Kunming - the 'City of Eternal Spring' and the natural beauty of the Yunnan Province."

The region's leading airlines will be represented by senior delegations in Kunming, including a strong representation from China with all four major carriers registered to attend: China Eastern, China Southern, Hainan Airlines and Air China alongside other major carriers such as Xiamen Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, China Airlines, Shandong Airlines and Shanghai Airlines.  A high number of major Asian flag carriers such as Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Philippine Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Garuda Indonesia and Air New Zealand are also registered to attend and the low cost sector will also be well represented in Kunming with confirmed carriers including AirAsia Group, LionAir, Spring Airlines, Scoot, Cebu Pacific Air, IndiGo, West Air and VietJet Air.

A number of out of region carriers have also confirmed their attendance at the event in Kunming such as British Airways, Condor, Etihad Airways, Finnair and LOT Polish Airlines.

The official opening ceremony of the event will take place on Sunday 15^th March at 13:00 followed by the Routes Asia Strategy Summit which is open to all attending delegates. Attendees of the Summit will hear from an impressive line up of industry thought leaders, including Xiuzhi Zhang, CEO of Spring Airlines and Xia Xinghua, Chairman of the China Civil Airports Association who will both deliver a keynote address. A number of moderator led panel discussions, involving many high level industry executives, will then address key air service development issues affecting commercial aviation across the entire Asia-Pacific region. Confirmed speakers include Andrew Cowen, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Express; Senthil Balan, Regional Group Head, Route & Fleet Planning for AirAsia Group; Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, Managing Director of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) and Michael Burke, Assistant Director, Commercial of Hong Kong Airlines.

Notes to Editors 

About Routes 

• Routes organises world-renowned airline and airport networking events through its regional and global Route Development Forums. Each year, there is one global event and one regional event in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas and CIS respectively. http://www.routesonline.com
  
• Routes was founded in 1995 as part of the Manchester UK‐based ASM Ltd., a consultancy specialising in the field of route development for airports. http://www.asm-global.com. Routes and ASM are part of the UBM EMEA division of UBM plc.
  
• UBM EMEA connects people and creates opportunities for companies across five continents to develop new business, meet customers, launch new products, promote their brands and expand their markets.  Through premiere brands such as MD&M, CPhI, IFSEC, TFM&A, Cruise Shipping Miami, the Concrete Show, the Routes portfolio of events, Airport Cities and many others, UBM EMEA exhibitions, conferences, awards programs, publications, websites and training and certification programs are an integral part of the marketing plans of companies across more than 20 industry sectors.

About UBM plc 

• UBM plc is a global events-led marketing services and communications company.  We help businesses do business, bringing the world's buyers and sellers together at events and online, as well as producing and distributing news and specialist content.  Our 5,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organised into expert teams which serve commercial and professional communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.
  
• For more information, go to http://www.ubm.com; follow us on Twitter at @UBM_plc to get the latest UBM corporate news; follow @UBM for news from all UBM's businesses; follow @UBM for a flavour of UBM from selected members of UBM's Twitterati.

Follow us on twitter: @Routesonline, @TheHUBRoutes, @VictoriaRoutes, @NLPROU, @airlineroute

SOURCE UBM EMEA Routes Ltd