CAPA Middle East & Africa Aviation Summit
Monday 29 April 2019
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08:00
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Registration, Networking & Coffee
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09:00
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Chairman’s Welcome
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09:05
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Aviation Market Overview
Global Aviation Market Overview:
CAPA - Centre for Aviation, Executive Chairman, Peter Harbison [Download Presentation] |
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09:30
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The Future of Aviation Infrastructure
Dubai Airports, CEO, Paul Griffiths [Download Presentation] |
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09:50
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Air Transport’s Outlook
AACO, Secretary General, Abdul Wahab Teffaha [Download Presentation] |
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10:10
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CAPA Membership Presentation
CAPA - Centre for Aviation, Senior Account Manager, Afizan Aziz [Download Presentation] |
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10:15
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Coffee Break & Networking
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10:45
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Spotlight on the Middle East - Middle East Carriers and outlook for 2019/20
Despite the near-mediaeval nature of aviation’s regulatory structure, it is only relatively rarely that politics intervenes to disrupt airline connections. Perhaps it is the socio-humanitarian nature of the industry’s role that often places mere political differences in the shade. Nowhere has politics made such inroads into efficient air service operations as in the Middle East.
Moderator: CAPA - Centre for Aviation, Executive Chairman, Peter Harbison
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11:30
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LCCs in Africa & the Middle East: Lessons to be shared and learnt While LCCs in both regions are facing very different issues, bringing them together will truly identify important lessons and hopefully drive future growth in both regions. Africa is an extremely challenging market for any LCC or new start-up. However, a long list of airline failures has not dissuaded more start-ups from entering the market. Nigeria’s Green Africa Airways is the latest to seek to break the logjam, well funded and with strong credentials. Flydubai remained the biggest LCC in the Middle East and was also again the number five airline overall, but its growth was only a low single digit percentage in 2018 and its capacity has remained virtually unchanged since 2016.
Moderator: CAPA – Centre for Aviation, Chief Analyst, Brendan Sobie
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12:15
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Lunch & Networking |
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13:15
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Spotlight on Africa – Africa remains a market of huge potential but even larger challenges Africa remains a market of huge potential but even larger challenges. The outlook for 2019 is mostly more of the same, but with some glimmers of hope. New start-ups and most existing airlines will struggle to overcome the obstacles that have repeatedly prevented most African airlines from succeeding. Foreign airlines dominate the African market and have a huge competitive advantage. Africa is an extremely challenging market for any LCC or new start-up. However, a long list of airline failures has not dissuaded more start-ups from entering the market. Nigeria’s Green Africa Airways is the latest to seek to break the logjam, well funded and with strong credentials. Africa’s current commercial aircraft fleet consists of 1,700 aircraft, according to CAPA Fleet Database, and there are only 257 aircraft on order from African airlines. The African airline sector continues to struggle, with most airlines in the red
Moderator: CAPA - Centre for Aviation, Content Editor, Blue Swan Daily, Rich Maslen
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14:00
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Distribution and digital transformation: A primer on NDC Travelport, Global Head of New Distribution, Ian Heywood [Download Presentation] |
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14:15
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Distribution and selling challenges: NDC to the rescue? Legacy distribution systems have for decades presented airlines with the twin problems of high costs and product commoditisation. In efforts to address these issues, a handful of carriers throughout the world have invested heavily into establishing their own API channels with agents, while the concurrent push by IATA for airlines to implement the NDC standard has encouraged the industry to adopt a retail focused approach to distribution. The GDS will also need to evolve in order to remain relevant and to compete effectively against other intermediaries and aggregators such as metasearch companies (some of which now have direct booking capabilities), as well as digital behemoths such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook - to gain a slice of the pie. But as airlines work on enhancing their retail offering and improving their merchandising capability via both direct and indirect channels, a resounding message from industry players is that airlines need to consider the importance of mobile and messaging platforms, which are slowly replacing the desktop as the preferred interface for researching and booking travel.
Panel:
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15:00
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Coffee Break & Networking |
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15:30
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Infrastructure: Airport/Airspace Africa traditionally does not figure highly on airport construction but demand for air travel is growing amongst the 1.2 billion population and in some countries the middle class is swelling. Accordingly, the number of airport construction projects is growing and there is a level of ambition there to build airports that are modern, efficient, and which will cater for growth for several decades. In the Middle East there are not quite as many projects one might expect although some large ones are scheduled to finish two years later, such as Kuwait Airport’s expansion project (2023) while additional infrastructure at Dubai World Central is being delivered in a piecemeal fashion through to the end of the next decade. It is interesting to note the big three airline hub locations (Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi) are not alone by any means in being in receipt of capital expenditure on this scale. The largest project scheduled to conclude in the next few years is in Saudi Arabia while Iran has two. These infrastructure constraints in both the Middle East & Africa are impacting greatly on aviation. This this session we will review:
Moderator: Aviation Minds, Managing Partner, Dr. Nadine Itani Panel:
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16:15
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Innovation driving the entire aviation ecosystem Technology within the aviation sector continues to evolve and develop leading to improved passenger experience, increased revenues and enhanced service. There are a range of tools available now which could assist in these areas from Customer Focused Platforms; Artificial Intelligence; Digital technology; and many more. These solutions are designed to enable an airline to increase their revenue, evolve their retailing strategies, and increase customer satisfaction.
Session Provocateur: Skyscanner, Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships, Hugh Aitken Moderator: Skyscanner, Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships, Hugh Aitken
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17:10
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Closing Remarks |
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17:15
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Networking Drinks
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18:15
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Day 1 Close
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