For the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, more than 350 executives of companies in the airline industry and government authorities from Latin America and the Caribbean will meet in-person to participate in the ALTA Airline Leaders Forum, the sector’s largest gathering in the region.
This year the event will take place from October 24 to 26 in Bogota, Colombia, a country that even before the pandemic was already a good example of the importance of creating favorable conditions for the promotion of air transport. The crisis has assessed its resilience, despite having suffered one of the longest restrictive periods in the region (only surpassed by Argentina and Venezuela), it leads the signs of recovery along with other markets such as Mexico (with the case that the Aztec nation did not force airlines to suspend their operations or close its borders).
The agenda of the ALTA Forum and its conferences will not only focus on the devastating consequences of the pandemic and the prospects for recovery but will also look to the future in terms of the opportunities that have arisen in response to the new needs of travelers and the environmental sustainability, which had already made its mark two weeks ago at the IATA Annual General Meeting when the airline industry pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
«The ALTA AGM and Airline Leaders Forum is the most significant face-to-face meeting of business aviation leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean with nearly 20 years of existence. The positive response and enthusiasm we have received in this edition demonstrate the commitment of the leaders of this sector to the development of a collaborative and initiative-taking work agenda along the whole value chain. In this recovery process, our region has enormous potential, and we have the challenge of, together, taking the right approach to bring opportunities to all regions and people, and to even increase connectivity and air transportation,» said José Ricardo Botelho, Executive Director & CEO of ALTA, in a press release.
As a symbol of the relevance of the industry for Colombia, the official opening will oversee the President of the Republic, Dr. Iván Duque. Colombian governmental participation will be joined by Angela Orozco, Minister of Transportation; Gilberto Salcedo, Vice President of Pro Colombia; Jair Orlando Fajardo, Director of Aerocivil; and María Jimena Lombana, Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism. Representing other governments will be Steve Dickson, Administrator of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration; Gilson Machado Neto, Minister of Tourism of Brazil; and Nilson Olsen, Minister of Tourism of Ecuador.
On the corporate side, key global and regional figures will be present, including Willie Walsh, Director General of IATA; Pedro Heilbron in his dual role as CEO of Copa Airlines and Chairman of the ALTA Executive Committee; Roberto Alvo, CEO of LATAM; Adrian Neuhauser, CEO of Avianca; John Rodgerdson, CEO of Azul; and Arturo Barreira, president of Airbus Latin America & Caribbean.
«This edition of the ALTA Airline Leaders Forum will be held in Colombia, a beautiful country with beautiful mountainous geography that makes it imperative to use air transportation to move around safely and efficiently. A couple of weeks ago, ALTA visited companies and authorities in this sector, with the objective that all actors take the necessary and immediate decisions to capture all the potential that will create benefits for the customers and, finally, for the country’s population. From ALTA we wish to encourage joint work to develop an essential service for the population», continued Botelho.
The public agenda of the event will start at 11:30 am with a press conference with the participation of Jose Ricardo Botelho, Pedro Heilbron, Gilberto Salcedo, and Jair Orlando Fajardo. You can follow the streaming of the press conference on Aviacionline’s YouTube channel by clicking here.
Other private meetings will take place on Sunday, such as ALTA’s Annual General Meeting.
On Monday at 9:00 a.m., the official opening ceremony will begin with a speech by Botelho, followed by Willie Walsh, the President of Colombia, Iván Duque, and Pedro Heilbron.
You can see the complete agenda of the event in this file:
agenda alta forum 2021Aviacionline is present in Bogota to cover the ALTA Airline Leaders Forum 2021, and you will be able to follow the articles we publish through our special microsite, aviacionline.com/altaforum2021, and the most relevant information instantly through our Twitter and Instagram accounts. We will also be streaming press conferences and interviews on our You Tube channel
