A very warm welcome to all delegates at this year’s Routes Europe conference, in Tallinn, the historic capital of Estonia. Around this time last year the network development community descended on the Sardinian city of Cagliari for what was one of the most successful regional events ever. In the past 12 months we have heard of a number of new air services that were facilitated directly by meetings held at Routes Europe and we are sure that with record delegate registrations this year that we will have a similarly engaging event!
Over 175 airline delegates representing 85 of Europe’s leading airlines will be represented at Routes Europe, which is taking place at the Radisson Blu Hotel Olümpia in Estonia’s historic capital and which is hosted by Tallinn Airport. This amounts to a 53 per cent growth in airline delegate numbers from last year’s event and will actually mean it is actually the second largest event ever to take place in Estonia after the Eurovision Song Contest ten years ago in 2002.
For the first time ever Routes Europe 2012 will open with the Routes Europe Strategy Forum. A keynote address from Mr Siim Kallas, Vice President European Commission, responsible for transport will open the Forum later today. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of the Republic of Estonia will also be involved in the event and will formally open a Networking Evening, which will also include the Routes Airport Marketing Awards, on Monday 21st May at Tallinn Song Festival Grounds.
Flag carriers will be strongly represented in Tallinn with six delegates in attendance from Lufthansa and registrations also received from Czech Airlines, Turkish Airlines, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Estonian Air and Alitalia. In addition, a significant low-cost carrier presence is expected with registrations from Ryanair, easyJet, Norwegian, Germanwings, Vueling, Jet2.com, transavia.com and airberlin which will be making its inaugural appearance at Routes Europe this year. Also, attending the event for the first time is Spanish start-up carrier Volotea which has activities also in France and Italy. Regional airlines will also be out in force with confirmed registrations received from SkyWork Airlines, Blue Islands, Flybe, Germania, Darwin Airline, Danube Wings and Skyways Express along with a strong Russian participation including Aeroflot, S7 Airlines, Rossiya Airlines and UTair.
“We will have a record number of delegates at Routes Europe this year,” said David Stroud, Executive Vice President Airports, Routes for UBM Aviation continuing, “this growth is beyond even our expectations and we are delighted that Routes Europe continues to attract the key decision makers from the region and plays an important role in shaping Europe’s future networks.”
“Estonia’s aviation market is the fastest growing in Europe, and Tallinn Airport is almost there to becoming the cosiest airport in the world,” added Erik Sakkov, Member of the Board for Tallinn Airport. “That’s why we feel there is no better place to host the top event of European aviation industry, and we are incredibly honoured to do just that. As a small country, we know perfectly well, why Estonia and Tallinn are a perfect travel destination, but much of the international travel industry is not aware of it yet. By hosting Routes Europe 2012, let me promise you – we are determined to correct that issue.”
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