ACTE-CAPA Global Summit

Moderators: CAPA - Centre for Aviation, Executive Chairman, Peter Harbison

Panel Members:

• Finnair, CCO, Juha Järvinen
• Flybe, CEO, Christine Ourmières-Widener
• PricewaterhouseCoopers, Senior Director, Travel & Meetings and Treasurer of ACTE Board of Directors, Lori O'Connell
• Virgin Atlantic, CEO, Craig Kreeger

SESSION 1: THE INS AND OUTS OF BREXIT - (1) THE EU SINGLE AVIATION MARKET AND (2) THE NORTH ATLANTIC OPEN SKIES AGREEMENT

After years of operating - highly successfully - within the single skies of Europe, UK-registered airlines are imminently threatened by the prospect of withdrawal of their freedom to operate without restriction throughout the EU. Moreover there are several European airlines that would relish the thought of these aggressive competitors being excluded from their home markets. Reversion to the need to negotiate individual bilateral agreements with each EU country would almost certainly be highly disruptive and potentially lead to much more restrictive operating conditions.

Despite there being so much at stake for UK-registered airlines (and, by extension possibly Irish registered airlines), there is little to suggest the UK government is treating the airline industry with any level of priority. It has bigger issues to address.

On the other hand, these issues may be resolved with a pragmatic approach on all sides. This Great Debate will look at all sides of the UK-Europe issue.

The following panel will discuss the implications for Britain under the North Atlantic multilateral agreement, where the UK may need to renegotiate its status on a bilateral basis.

Chairman: John R. Byerly, Consultant, John Byerly

Debate:

• BKH Aviation, Chairman, Barry Humphreys CBE
• CityJet, Executive Chairman & CEO, Patrick Byrne
• European Aviation Club, Chairman, Rigas Doganis
• Norton Rose Fulbright, Partner, Emma Giddings

Audience participation will be encouraged and the audience will vote on the various issues raised.

Will unions intervene to wind back key provisions of the North Atlantic? It is not only UK-Europe that is deeply affected by Brexit, but also the position of the UK in a multilateral agreement that binds the UK-EU in the context of the North American open skies.

This implies the need to rework the terms of the multilateral agreement – either to include or to exclude the UK, with accompanying need for replacement bilateral agreements between the relevant parties.

This alone is complex. But the history of the original negotiations also revolved greatly around the more liberal approach adopted by the UK as compared with some of the more powerful EU member states.

Can this maze of agreements be negotiated, while keeping the liberalised multilateral terms in place? For example will the various airline unions, vigilant to maintain their respective philosophical positions, seek to claw back some of the more liberal provisions?

With such a challenging process in prospect, what is being done now and what is likely to be the outcome once the UK leaves the EU? This panel looks in depth at these aspects of the Brexit conundrum.

Moderator: John R. Byerly, Consultant, John Byerly

Panel Members:

• Air Line Pilots Association, International, Senior Attorney, Russell Bailey
• British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA), General Secretary, Brian Strutton
• Whitaker Airspace, Principal, (former Assistant Administrator, US FAA), Michael Whitaker

SESSION 2: AVIATION INFRASTRUCTURE

It is a popular refrain that there has been no new runway added in the UK since WWII – although many unused and underused airports have been reactivated. Across the world, similar stories abound – it has taken Sydney nearly 50 years to decide to build a new airport – although major exceptions like China, the Gulf, Turkey and Mexico do exist. Following the interminable process leading up to a decision to add a new runway at Heathrow Airport, the next step is actually to navigate the many hurdles involved in actually building it. Manoeuvring a way through the various needs of the stakeholders is a delicate business and not everyone is ever happy.

Moderator: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Global Aviation Leader & Partner, Michael Burns

Panel Members:

• bmi Regional, CCO, Jochen Schnadt
• European Commission, Aviation Director, Filip Cornelis
• IATA, Regional VP, Europe, Rafael Schvartzman
• Heathrow Airport Holdings, CEO, John Holland-Kaye

SESSION 3: SURFING A TSUNAMI OF CHANGE IN THE TRAVEL SECTOR

Blockchain, Bitcoin, Apple Pay are just the tip of the iceberg of a monetary motion that is changing the world of payments.

What will our world will be like five years from now, relative to payments for travel and what should we be doing today in order to prepare?

There are many examples of a significant step change in eliminating cash from the payments process in many countries. Last year’s example in India being high profile, however there are others e.g. Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Greece, and across Europe the use of the 500 Euro bill stops. What is replacing cash, and how will it impact the travel ecosystem end to end. We explore what is happening and why. The world will move from cash to cashless, physical cards to virtual cards and the impact to our industry and its travellers. Are you ready?

Moderator: Troovo, CEO (and President of ACTE), Kurt Knackstedt

Panel Members:

• Barclaycard, Head of Travel, Hospitality & Leisure, David Bell
• Mezi, VP, Travel Strategy & Partnerships, Johnny Thorsen
• Travelport, Head of Global Sales, Payments, John Harris
• UATP, President, CEO & Chairman, Ralph Kaiser

A host of new apps and techniques are being developed across the spectrum of retailing, payments and generally controlling customer behaviour – or at least offering an array of attractive alternatives. These increasingly include Artificial Intelligence and chatbots, in ways that transform one-on-one communication with customers. Typically they do not cover the range of conventional distribution, but the sheer number of new ideas and applications in this area is starting to change the shape of the relationship between airline and traveller. Then there are the online retail behemoths like Google, Amazon, Facebook, along with Airbnb and others rapidly accumulating massive data sets and the ability to use them to target buyers more effectively. The panel will review the main non-airline and airline innovations in the sector and how “outside” players will change the rules of the game.

Moderator: Mezi, VP Travel Strategy & Partnerships, Johnny Thorsen

Panel Members:

• Amadeus IT Group, Strategic Marketing Director, Robert Sinclair-Barnes
• CarTrawler, CTO, Bobby Healy
• Skyscanner, CEO & Co-Founder, Gareth Williams

The introduction of an industry standard platform, IATA’s NDC, is only one of the factors in play as airlines seek to prepare for an uncertain distribution future. Several airlines are adopting new approaches to the conventional GDS distribution process. To some extent these are steps into the unknown, but failure to seek to adapt for future needs is probably even riskier. The result is a great deal of experimentation and disruption. For intermediaries the picture is confusing and sometimes alarming, as uncertainty and confused messages become standard. Can airlines individually move to new platforms; and does the NDC offer a viable option? How are airlines responding? How should they respond? And where do intermediaries fit into the picture as the scenes shift? This panel attempts to throw some light on where we are heading – or not.

Moderator: Gray Dawes Group, Head of Technology, David Chappell

Panel Members:

• Farelogix, CEO, Jim Davidson
• Finnair, CCO, Juha Järvinen
• IATA, Director New Distribution Capability Program, Yanik Hoyles
• Malaysia Airlines, CEO, Peter Bellew
• Travelport, Global Head of Product & Marketing, Air Commerce, Ian Heywood