'Routes' Experienced Record Year In 2013

Last year was another record year for Routes, a series of airline and airport networking events, with more delegates than ever before attending its World and Regional Route Development Forums. Those include "World Routes," which sponsoring organization UBM says is "the world's largest civil aviation gathering."

A record number of over 5,600 delegates attended the six forums that Routes organized around the globe in 2013. These gatherings, which focus entirely on aviation route development, have become the must attend events of the year that shape the world's air services. "Routes is where the aviation industry decides where people will fly in the future," said Katie Bland, Director of Routes. "With 16,000 face-to-face meetings at World Routes alone, our events play a crucial role in shaping the future of air services around the world. In 2013, around 100 CEOs and Tourism Ministers plus 300 senior executives of airlines, airports and tourism authorities attended our global event in Las Vegas. This is simply unrivalled in the aviation industry.

"The record attendance at our events highlights the growing importance of intelligent network planning - not just for airlines and airports, but also for tourism authorities, cities and regions. They increasingly throw their weight behind the development of new air services which are integral to their economic growth and development." 

Looking ahead, the Americas region will be a particular focus over the coming 14 months, with Routes Americas 2014 in San Salvador next month, World Routes 2014 in Chicago in September followed by Routes Americas in Denver in February 2015 - the first time that this regional event will take place in the US, the largest aviation market in the world. 

The importance of the Americas region was highlighted last December, when a decision was made to merge the Network USA event with Routes to create a single definitive event platform for the airline, airport and tourism communities from across the Americas. However, Routes will continue to grow in all key aviation markets around the world this year with events in Asia, Europe, Africa and the CIS, in addition to North and South America.

In total, six events are planned for 2014:

• Routes Americas: 23-25 February, San Salvador, El Salvador
• Routes Asia: 9-11 March, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
• Routes Europe: 6-8 April, Marseille, France
• Routes Africa: 22-24 June, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
• World Routes: 20-23 September, Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Routes CIS: date and host to be announced very soon

Future events that have already been announced for 2015 include World Routes in Durban, South Africa; Routes Europe in Aberdeen, Scotland and Routes Asia in Kunming, China as well as Routes Americas in Denver, CO.

FMI: www.routesonline.com