Aviation Leaders Gather in Berlin
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Berlin will be world’s aviation capital as the city prepares to host 600 industry leaders for the 66th IATA Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit from 6-8 June 2010.
The official program starts at 0900 CET on 7 June with the State of the Industry address by Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO. “We are meeting as the industry continues its recovery from the global financial meltdown and turbulent decade of cycles and shocks that resulted in accumulated losses of nearly $50 billion. A strong traffic growth trend prior to the setback of the Icelandic volcano is improving the industry’s bottom line prospects. It is finally time for some cautious optimism,” said Bisignani.
Among the highlights of the AGM will be the release of a new industry outlook as part of the Director General’s State of the Industry address. The discussions of top industry leaders will also focus on:Â
- The industry’s strategy on climate change in the aftermath of the Copenhagen talks and in preparation for COP-16 in Mexico
- Structuring the industry for profitability with consolidation and commercial freedoms
- Finding an effective and harmonized approach to security.
- Finding a better way for governments and industry to work together with a common visionÂ
Confirmed speakers include:
CEO Forum: Nader Dahabi, Senator and former Prime Minister of Jordan; Praful Patel, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, India; Felipe Morandé LavÃn, Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Chile; David Bonderman, Founding Partner of TPG Capital; Calin Rovinescu, President and CEO of Air Canada; Peter Hartman, President and CEO of KLM; and Tengku Dato’ Azmil Zahruddin, Managing Director and CEO of Malaysia Airlines.
Climate Change Leadership: Hussein Dabbas, President and CEO of Royal Jordanian; Christoph Franz, Member of the Executive Board Lufthansa AG, CEO of Lufthansa German Airlines; Alan Joyce, CEO and Managing Director of Qantas; Guy Hachey, President and CEO of Bombardier Aerospace; David Hess, President of Pratt and Whitney; and John Plaza, President and CEO of Imperium Renewables, will discuss the road to COP-16 in Mexico and beyond.
Government and Industry Partnership: Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, CEO of Air France-KLM and CEO, Air France; Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports; Joachim Hunold, CEO of Air Berlin and Emirsyah Satar, President and CEO of Garuda Indonesia will discuss a new relationship between government and industry. They will be joined by Harold Demuren and Gen. Jose Huepe Perez, Directors General of Civil Aviation of Nigeria and Chile, respectively.
The event is being hosted by Lufthansa. Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO Deutsche Lufthansa’s AG, is a member of the IATA Board of Governors. Germany has hosted two previous AGMs—Hamburg in 1985 and Munich in 1968. “We are pleased to be meeting in Berlin, a city that is a great symbol of change and resilience,” said Bisignani.
All sessions are open to the media but pre-registration online is required.  Â
