Over 1,200 Aviation Professionals in Marseille for Routes Europe 2014

Marseille, France (ots/PRNewswire) -

Routes Europe 2014, the largest regional route development event
ever organised by Routes, opened in Marseille this weekend to a
record attendance of over 1200 delegates from 70 countries,
representing 115 airlines, 380 airports and over 50 tourism
authorities.

Speaking at the opening press conference this morning, Pierre
Regis, Managing Director of Marseille Provence Airport highlighted
the impressive growth rates of this year's host: "Marseille is the
fastest growing airport in France with a 54% growth in passengers
over the past ten 10 years, and the third largest cargo airport in
the country. Marseille-Provence is also the second most important
tourism region in France with 30 million visitors per year."

Julien Boullay, Marketing and Communications Director of Marseille
Provence Airport added that last year alone, the region saw an
increase in the number of international visitors of 21% thanks to a
growing European and long-haul network: "Our target is 10 million
passengers in 2020, up from 8.4 million last year." The 29 airlines
operating out of Marseille will commence numerous new routes this
year, including Toronto and the newly announced Moroni in the Comores
that will be launched by Air Madagascar on 26 June 2014.

Adrian Newton, Group Director Transport and Technology, at Routes
organisers UBM Live said: "Increasingly the global economy is an
aviation economy. Air services are the lifelines of a modern economy
and one of the biggest assets of a city or region."

Katie Bland, Director Routes, UBM Live added: "It is a bit like a
matchmaking service for the aviation industry. Routes Europe is a
unique opportunity for Marseille to present itself to network
decision-makers from airlines in Europe, the Middle East, the US and
China - the people attending the event are the very people who decide
where their airlines will fly in the future."

Routes Europe 2014 officially opened yesterday with the hard
hitting Strategy Summit. The motto of the day could be described as
"plus ca change", as around 20 high-level speakers from Europe and
beyond attested to constant change in all parts of the aviation and
tourism industry.

In an enlightening keynote speech, Frederic Gagey, Chairman and
CEO of Air France, highlighted the challenges France's flag carrier
has been facing since the beginning of the economic crisis and its
struggle to return to profitability. The company has put in place a
far-reaching programme to turn around the business, he explained,
which includes reducing the number of employees by 10%, or 10,000,
since 2011:

"It was a difficult choice, but you have to accept such an
evolution when you turn around a company."

However, cost-cutting measures alone are not sufficient. "You have
to show a new commercial perspective as well. We are investing
EUR500m in the improvement of our product." Air France is also
investing in new long-haul services, introducing a Paris-Brasilia
service, followed by a new route to Jakarta next summer. This
far-reaching "transformation plan" is beginning to bear fruit: Mr
Gagey announced that he expects Air France to return to a positive
operating margin in 2014.

The reoccurring theme of the day was the "great convergence" of
legacy carriers and low-cost airlines. While Air France-KLM and
Lufthansa are transferring large parts of their networks to their
low-cost subsidiaries, low-fares airlines offer more and more
services that have so far been associated with network airlines and
increasingly move into large hub airports. With the likes of
Norwegian, WestJet and flynas breaking into the long-haul market, the
convergence between network carriers and low-cost airlines seems to
be gaining even more momentum.

A full report on the Strategy Summit can be found here [http://ww
w.routesonline.com/news/29/breaking-news/240757/routes-europe-plus-ca
-change-strategy-summit-focuses-on-the-ldquogreat-convergencerdquo ]
. A summary of the keynote speech by Frederic Gagey, Chairman and
CEO of Air France, is available here [http://www.routesonline.com/ne
ws/29/breaking-news/240756/routes-europe-air-france-boss-calls-for-ai
rlines-and-airports-to-rdquowork-hand-in-handrdquo ] .

The Routesonline news [http://www.routesonline.com/news/29/breaki
ng-news/240757/routes-europe-plus-ca-change-strategy-summit-focuses-o
n-the-ldquogreat-convergencerdquo ] section will be updated with
breaking news stories throughout the event.

Notes to Editors

About Routes

- Routes organises world-renowned airline and airport networking events
through its regional and global Route Development Forums. Each year, there is one
global event and one regional event in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas and CIS
respectively. http://www.routesonline.com
- Routes was founded in 1995 as part of the Manchester UK-based ASM Ltd., a
consultancy specialising in the field of route development for airports.
http://www.asm-global.com [http://www.asm%E2%80%90global.com ]. Routes and ASM are
part of the UBM Live division of UBM plc.
- UBM Live connects people and creates opportunities for companies across five
continents to develop new business, meet customers, launch new products, promote
their brands and expand their markets. Through premiere brands such as MD&M, CPhI,
IFSEC, TFM&A, Cruise Shipping Miami, the Concrete Show, the Routes portfolio of
events, Airport Cities and many others, UBM Live exhibitions, conferences, awards
programs, publications, websites and training and certification programs are an
integral part of the marketing plans of companies across more than 20 industry
sectors. http://www.ubmlive.com

Follow us on twitter: @Routesonline
[http://twitter.com@Routesonline ], @TheHUBRoutes
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[http://twitter.com@VictoriaRoutes ], @NLPROU
[http://twitter.com@NLPROU ], @airlineroute
[http://twitter.com@airlineroute ]

About UBM plc

- UBM plc is a global events-led marketing services and communications
company. We help businesses do business, bringing the world's buyers and sellers
together at events and online, as well as producing and distributing news and
specialist content. Our 5,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organised into
expert teams which serve commercial and professional communities, helping them to do
business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.
- For more information, go to http://www.ubm.com [natasha.peck@routesonline.com
]; follow us on Twitter at @UBM_plc [http://twitter.com/UBM_plc ] to get the latest
UBM corporate news; follow @UBM for news from all UBM's businesses; follow @UBM for a
flavour of UBM from selected members of UBM's Twitterati.

ots Originaltext: UBM Live Routes Ltd
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
For further press information please contact: Victoria Jones, PR
Executive, Routes, T: +44-(0)161-234-2730, E:
victoria.jones@routesonline.com