CAPA Airline Leader Summit

Day 2 - Friday 17 March 2023

09:00- 09:05

Chairperson’s Welcome

09:05-09:20

Covid, war, high oil prices, airport disruptions . . . . How to successfully navigate multiple crises and bring your A-game {Download Presentation}

 Wellnesstory, Co-Founder, Jim Callaghan 

Wellnesstory, Co-Founder, Natasa Kazmer

 Jim Callaghan and Natasa Kazmer are true industry veterans. Jim is the former General Counsel of Ryanair and Etihad Airways and Natasa started her career in the Hungarian flag carrier, Malev, and went on to co-found Wizz Air. They are all too familiar with the tendency to put our careers before our health, and the resulting longer term damage. In this brief presentation, they will demonstrate that not only is this unnecessary, but in fact, health is within all of our grasp and can be a super power for leading our teams and companies to greater success.

09:20-09:50

30 mins

Airline Leader Interview - Wizz Air

Wizz, President, Robert Carey 

Moderator: John Strickland

09:50-10:50 

60 mins

CAPA Think Tank: The re-ordering of aviation – LCCs to the fore

COVID-19 presented an unparalleled growth opportunity for low cost carriers. Many of the markets where LCCs excel - such as short haul and leisure focused travel – were the first to recover, while traditionally strong markets for network airlines - including long haul intercontinental and business travel – are still yet to recover fully. 

In Europe for example, LCC traffic has nearly fully recovered, while full service airline traffic is still down by around 20%. LCCs now control 40% of seat capacity, including half of all seats operated within the region. Ryanair is now Europe’s largest single airline brand by most metrics – seats, ASKs or departures – and LCCs are now four of the 10 largest single airline brands within the EU. With recession in the EU looming, traveller preference for short haul persisting and lingering concerns around COVID-19, can LCCs continue to gather market share?

Moderator: CAPA - Centre for Aviation, Chief Financial Analyst, Jonathan Wober

Panel:

Play, CEO, Birgir Jónsson

Norse Atlantic Airways, CEO, Bjorn Tore Larsen 

Lynx, CEO & President, Merren McArthur

10:50-11:00 

10 mins

Innovation Roadshow - Cellpoint Digital 

Cellpoint Digital, Global Head of Revenue, Greg Worch

11:00-11:30

30 mins

Coffee break & Networking

11:30-11:35

5 mins

Humanitarian flight operations - Why it matters? {Download Presentation}

Airlink, Vice Chair of the Airlink Board of Trustees, Robyn Mandel

11:35-12:20

45 mins

Airport Leaders Panel: Working together for the future of aviation

Air travel recovered rapidly during 2022, although a full return of air traffic and restoration of Europe’s network connectivity to pre-pandemic levels still isn’t expected until late 2023 or even early 2024. While the rebuilding continues, airports face a range of pressing issues that will shape not only the recovery this year, but the long term prospects for Europe’s air travel sector:

• Shortfalls are prominent in areas such as skilled manpower and ATC/airspace capacity, while a future runway capacity shortage looms. As demand recovers, what are the priorities to avoid a repeat of 2022’s operational issues? Further, how does Europe address identified shortfalls to ensure there is capacity to support growth?
• What is the role of airports in helping to build leadership in aviation sustainability? How are commitments such as Net Zero growth and the EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ proposals met without harming air connectivity or sector competitiveness?
• With trends in Europe towards the use of rail in short haul travel, the rise of e-commerce, and future mobility using new technologies, airports have an opportunity to transform into intermodal hubs offering seamless connectivity between forms of transport.  What policy and infrastructure approaches need to be adopted to ensure European airports provide the best possible solution in terms of connectivity, environmental and economic performance?

Moderator: ASM, SVP Airport Strategy & Marketing, Tony Griffin

Panel:

Budapest Airport, CCO, Kam Jandu 

JFK New Terminal One, Chief Revenue Officer, Amit Rikhy

Airport Authority Hong Kong, COO, Vivian Cheung

YDA Dalaman Airport, Director Operations & Revenues, Ahmet Orçun Songur

12:20-13:00

40 mins

Business travel – Phased recovery, new equilibrium, or structural decline?

 Out with the old, in with the new? Has there been a structural change in the way corporations approach, approve and value business travel? Do we expect business travel to ever come back to “normal” or has a new equilibrium been reached because of COVID-19?

 There’s no doubt that business travel has undergone a partial recovery, and the prospects for 2023 are better: businesses globally are planning for more travel, greater spending on travel and continued easing of COVID-19 limitations on business trip.  

 Yet, the pandemic has produced fundamental changes to the way that corporations operate and how people work. With technology a viable alternative to traditional meetings, sustainability changing attitudes to air travel and businesses ever conscious of the cost of travel, it’s also apparent that the business travel market has emerged from the pandemic, massively altered.

• Will business travel ever fully recover, or has COVID-19 produced a new equilibrium?
• Are businesses still willing to pay for business travel? What is the cost of NOT travelling for businesses?
• Is there a differentiation between business travel segments based on length of journey?
• Are air travel alternatives (particularly rail in Europe) now competitive enough in terms of time, product, cost and sustainability credentials to present a new threat to travel by air?

Moderator: CAPA - Centre for Aviation, Head of Analysis, Rich Maslen

Panel:

Informa, Group Travel Director & Head of Corporate Events, Melissa Watson

easyJet, Senior Business Development Manager/Corporate Sustainability Lead, Mark Wilkinson

Microsoft, Global Director Travel, VenueSource and Payment, Eric Bailey 

Howden Group, Business Travel Manager (Global), Kate Scully

13:00

Chairperson’s wrap up

13:00-14:00

Closing Lunch & Networking