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At the end of this year’s Routes Europe, the mood amongst the 700 delegates in attendance was positive. More than 3,000 route development meetings took place – more than at any other Routes Europe event.
The event, held from 9th–11th May in Toulouse, France, was a resounding success, thanks largely to the organisation, attention to detail and efforts invested by the host, Toulouse-Blagnac Airport. It was attended by representatives from across the region and those with an interest in the region, including American Airlines, British Airways, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways.
Wolfgang Schein, Head of Market Research & Strategic Network Planning, Austrian Airlines, made use of the networking opportunities on offer to gather information to help restructure the airline’s network.
He commented: “Particularly as our airline is in the process of repositioning its route network, it was a natural move for us to be at Routes Europe again this year. As well as being well established on our long-haul and Middle East destinations, Austrian Airlines is currently very strong in Eastern Europe. Combined with our new strategy to gain back our competitiveness by offering highly competitive prices, backed by a tight steering, we are currently in a phase of redesigning our network.
“For Austrian this is possible due to a significant reduction of our production costs from the recent restructuring processes and the phasing out of all aircraft with high costs per seat as well as, on the other side, adding additional cost-efficient and bigger aircraft. We are now looking to develop a stronger presence in Western Europe. By being at Routes Europe we had the perfect opportunity to meet airports from all across the region, allowing us to target the ones from Western Europe specifically.
“Routes Europe always provides a great place to meet several airports that are of interest within a short period of time – and this year certainly didn’t disappoint.”
For the first time Routes Europe was host to the recently introduced ‘Route Exchange – Airline Requirement Briefings’ – a feature which allows airlines to present their forthcoming plans and airport requirements to a number of airports at one time. The attending airports gained a lot of insight from these presentations, and each one was followed by a lively debate.
Torsten Deller, Manager Network Planning at Lufthansa Italia, one of the three carriers leveraging this new offering from Routes, explained: “The airline briefing was really good. I am glad that Routes gave us the opportunity to present Lufthansa Italia, which is not well known in the European market. We were given the opportunity to show to European airports that there is a difference between Lufthansa (German Airlines) and Lufthansa Italia!”
Nigel Mayes, Managing Director at Routes, commented: “This year’s event had a really impressive attendance, despite the ash cloud threatening to keep many away. The number and calibre of the delegates is testament to the role Routes events play in the network development process.
“The host and its supporting partners really pulled out all the stops. The gala dinner was an amazing triumph and something that they should be congratulated on. The Airbus A380 and the ATR tour also provided a highlight for many delegates.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
