Manchester Airports Group to host return of CAPA Airline Leader Summit

CAPA – Centre for Aviation (CAPA) has announced that it will resume its cornerstone CAPA Airline Leader Summit – Airlines in Transition event, with Manchester Airports Group (MAG) to host the industry summit on 7-8th March.

The event, to be held at the Carden Park Hotel Golf Resort & Spa near Chester, will be one of the first of CAPA’s regional events held as the aviation sector returns to in-person events. The summit will also be streamed online to a virtual audience of over 8,700 subscribers.

Headline speakers have already confirmed for the summit include:

• Emirates President Sir Tim Clark
• KLM President & CEO Pieter Elbers
• SAS President & CEO Anko van der Werff
• Ethiopian CEO Tewolde GebreMariam
• easyJet COO Peter Bellew.

CAPA Managing Director, Derek Sadubin said:

“Our ‘Airlines in Transition’ Summits have, since their inception in 2012, been some of the most remarkable and memorable events in CAPA’s history. The highest calibre speaker line-ups and salubrious settings have established these Summits as the ‘must-attend’ event for leading airline thinkers and strategists. And 2022’s Summit will be no exception.

“We thank Manchester Airport Group for its support in hosting the Summit, providing a fresh venue and backdrop to a vitally important event as airlines continue to rapidly transition to a new environment.”

MAG Chief Development Officer Ken O’Toole said:

“MAG is pleased to host one of the first in-person CAPA events since the pandemic, and we look forward to welcoming all of the delegates in Manchester this year. Our whole industry has felt the impact of the pandemic, but we are looking forward to working with all our partners to drive a strong recovery in 2022.”

“I look forward to hearing first-hand how others have weathered the storm of the last two years and sharing knowledge and advice on how we can all work together to ensure the sector thrives once we emerge from the pandemic.”

“Manchester is the ideal location for the summit, with our extensive short and long-haul network, with more than 50 existing airline operators, offering delegates easy access to attend. Furthermore, they will get to experience our new Terminal Two extension, which features the latest innovations in travel.”

Returning for the first time since 2019, the Summit will challenge the recovery tactics of airline management leaders, after surviving two years of tumultuous unpredictability.

With the general consensus being that we’ll need to learn to ‘live with the virus’, attention now turns to the rising pressures surrounding sustainability, safety, digitisation and technological innovation. Airline leaders must now attempt to, not just encourage, but instil, greater consumer and investor confidence to begin to rebuild, all the while still managing the enduring effects of the pandemic.

Registrations for the CAPA Airline Leader Summit – Airlines in Transition are now open with Ultra Early Bird Rates available from $695-795 via the CAPA website.