Thursday Nov 14, 2024
Thursday Nov 14, 2024
Monday, 2 June 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Qatar Airways, the country’s national airline, is an IATA member and event host, while other local sponsors include Ooredoo and Alfardan Automobiles.
Qatar Airways flew many senior airline executives including more than 200 international media to this important event in the aviation industry’s calendar.
Ooredoo is participating as the events Official Telecom partner by providing state-of-the-art laptops at the media centre, LCD television screens to be used at the conference, as well as Hala SIM cards and superfast 4G internet upgrades for the delegates.
Alfardan Automobiles is the Official VIP Transport partner providing guests with transportation for the entire duration of the event.
Ooredoo Chief Operating Officer Waleed Al-Sayed said: “Ooredoo has a long history of working with leading aviation companies such as Qatar Airways, and on large transportation projects. This conference gives us a perfect chance to not only demonstrate our strength and experience in the field, but to showcase the products we have available for industry leaders.”
Alfardan Automotive Group Chief Operating Officer Mohammed Kandeel said: “Alfardan Automobiles is glad to support the 70th IATA Annual General Meeting in Qatar to draw over 1,000 delegates from all over the world. BMW is all about driving performance and the characteristic precision and performance of the event are values with which the BMW brand identifies perfectly, which makes our sponsorship a winning combination.”
“Doha will be the centre of the air transport industry next week as its leaders discuss the most important commercial aviation-related issues of our times: safety, security, environment, distribution and financial sustainability among others,” said IATA Director General and CEO Tony Tyler last week. IATA is the global association of the world’s airlines. The IATA AGM draws together the CEOs and senior management of its 240 member airlines that carry 84% of global traffic. They will be joined by leaders from across the spectrum of industry stakeholders including governments, partners in the value chain and other international organisations.
“You will notice a very unique atmosphere at the AGM. IATA’s members come from all parts of the world and operate on a variety of business models. We have very large global network airlines. And we have much smaller regional airlines. They compete vigorously in what is a very tough business. But when they are at the AGM, they are focused on the industry and making the best decisions possible to secure its future success,” said Tyler.
This is the fourth time the AGM is being hosted in the Middle East. Aviation in the region supports some two million jobs and $ 116 billion in economic activity. “The AGM will be a major event for aviation in the Middle East, and particularly for the airlines based in the Gulf region. These carriers, including Qatar Airways, have been at the core of a major shift in global aviation. In just over a decade, the share of global traffic accounted for by Middle East airlines increased from 4% to 9%. Much of this growth has been realised here in the Gulf,” said Tyler. IATA’s 70th AGM coincides with the global celebration of the first 100 years of scheduled commercial aviation. The commercial airline industry began with a flight across Tampa Bay, Florida on 1 January 1914.
“Qatar is an excellent venue for the AGM, at which we celebrate the first 100 years of scheduled commercial aviation. The country is using aviation-enabled connectivity as a cornerstone of its economic and social development,” said Tyler.
