Steven F. Udvar- Házy has more than 40 years of aviation industry experience, has been awarded numerous honorary doctorate degrees and been a recipient of plenty of awards including The Living Legends of Aviation Award, the ISTAT Award, the Air Force Vandenberg Award, Officier de la Légion d’Honneur awarded by the Republic of France and many more. With five decades of experience, the living legend of aviation comes to share his insights into the industry at AIR 2019

Gediminas Žiemelis – global aviation expert and visionary entrepreneur, twice awarded by Aviation Week as one of the 40 most talented leaders in the global aerospace industry. Currently, Mr. Žiemelis holds the role as the Chairman of the Board at Avia Solutions Group – an international aviation holding company with over 30 subsidiaries worldwide. In recent years Gediminas has as well led and consulted aircraft leasing and trading business for transactions worth in total 2 billion US dollars. Mr. Žiemelis leadership skills were also recognized by the European Business Awards, where he received the award in the entrepreneurship category for his visionary inspiration and innovative approach to proactive aviation business development.

Steve Smith is a 38-year airline industry veteran, who has held numerous key positions in sales and marketing throughout his notable career.  In 2006, Steve joined Japan Airlines to lead the carrier’s corporate and agency sales activities.  Now, in his new role of Vice President and Head of Global Sales, he works closely with the airline’s corporate sales teams throughout the world, primarily with the Global Corporate and T.M.C. channels to generate premium business, and he also works closely with JAL’s Joint Business Partners throughout the world.

Before joining Japan Airlines, Steve spent 25 years with Delta Air Lines holding several leadership positions including Managing Director for Worldwide Sales at the airline’s Atlanta Headquarters in 2001.  Previous to that assignment, he was Director of Sales and Marketing for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India, while based in London.

Prior to the Europe assignment, Steve was the regional director for sales and marketing for the Northeastern Region, including the New York City market. Steve has also led sales and marketing teams in important U.S. business markets such as Dallas/Ft. Worth, and Houston, and in key mid-markets such as Louisville, Tulsa and Jacksonville.

Steve is currently a member of the IATAN Board of Directors and also formerly served on the GBTA Aviation Committee as the International Airlines Representative. He is a graduate of the University of Florida, and a native of the sunshine state. He has personal interests in football, sailing, travel and golf.

John Schubert has been with the Boeing Company for 34 years and is currently the Managing Director of Marketing for Asia Pacific and India. Schubert is responsible for the marketing analysis of commercial airplanes to airlines in the Asia Pacific and India regions. He is responsible for market strategy, product analysis and product marketing activities in these regions.

Previously, Schubert was a Senior Analyst in the Sales Strategy organization responsible for developing twin-aisle product and sales strategies. As Regional Director of Marketing in Asia Pacific from 2004 to 2010, Schubert coordinated commercial airplane marketing activities in Malaysia and Indonesia. From 1997 to 2004, he served in the Financial Analysis Group, supporting sales campaigns and providing financial analysis assistance to airlines. Before coming to Marketing, Schubert spent 13 years in Engineering in both Boeing Defense Systems and Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Schubert earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon Institute of Technology and an MBA from Seattle University.

Pinyot P. Pibulsonggram is the Senior Vice President of Commercial Development at NOK Airlines PLC. He has 15 years of experience in the aviation industry particularly in the areas of marketing, planning, sales, and customer care. Mr. Pibulsonggram was on the start-up team in creating Nok Air in 2003 and helped drive the airline to eventually become one of the top budget airlines in the country. Additionally, Pibulsonggram helped lead in the initial marketing and brand development of NokScoot (JV between Nok Air and Scoot from Singapore). Mr. Pibulsonggram holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Boston College, Massachusetts, USA.

Martynas Grigalavicius, CEO at FL Technics Asia and FL Technics Indonesia – newly developed MRO company in Jakarta. Martynas has over 20 years of successful Sales and Business Development experience in number of big International companies, including Airline and MRO companies. Martynas successfully developed two new MRO facilities – one in Europe under FL Technics company in accordance with EASA PART145 and one in Jakarta under FL Technics Indonesia in accordance with AMO 145. Currently running FL Technics Indonesia and FL Technics Asia, Thailand in CEO position.

Cesar Pereira is the Vice President of Embraer Commercial Aviation for Asia Pacific based in the regional headquarters in Singapore since August 2017.
Cesar has been working at Embraer for 15 years and prior to his current role, he was the Head of Consulting at Embraer Commercial Aviation, where he worked hand in hand with airlines to shape their planning and strategies.
His career at Embraer has also seen him work in several other divisions such as Product Development, Market Intelligence and Sales Engineering where as a Director, he led the worldwide marketing and sales support activities for commercial aviation
Cesar is Brazilian and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, a Master’s degree in Aeronautics and an MBA in Enterprise Management.

Nitin brings deep experience in product design and digital customer experience, which he has acquired over the last 19 years across leading internet companies in India. He is currently leading IndiGo as VP Digital to help the group undergo Digital Transformation. He previously built Quikr.com, Yatra.com, Naukri.com, Indiatimes, Rediff and Bharti Airtel. He is an expert in crafting loveable experience for the consumers through simple and usable products. Nitin mentors many startups and has invested in a few of them, as well. He also likes to speak on Design Thinking on many public forums.

Nitin has won the ‘Design-led Entrepreneurship Awards’ 2017 at TiE 2017. Nitin has been awarded with Karnataka Brand Leadership Award 2017. He got recognised as top digital influencer and made it to Adobe Content 100 list for 2017. Nitin has recently also made it to Adobe Digi100 list for 2018. He has been chosen as one of the Smarted Digital Marketing Leaders by World Digital Marketing Congress recently.

Perry has more than 30 years of experience at China Airlines in the areas of load master, flight attendant and flight engineer in type rating A300/747. After 17 years served as a flight crew member, Perry joined management team in 2005. He’s had experience in various management roles such as GM in safety audit, GM in flight safety and assistant VP in corporate safety division. He’s also an international safety lead auditor who conducted IOSA audit internationally. Mr. Perry has conducted more than 80 audits in different airlines and made improvements for airlines’ operations. In 2016, Perry joined China Airlines operational control center responsible for flight planning and operations, including emergency response. Currently, Mr. Perry is VP of system operations control division at China Airlines.

Ross G. McKeand was appointed Head of Airline Marketing – Asia-Pacific & China in November 2016. Mr McKeand has over 13 years’ experience in aviation and has worked extensively in Europe and Asia. He is now based in Singapore and leads the Bombardier Commercial Aircraft marketing teams in Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney.

Prior to joining Bombardier, Mr McKeand worked for both GECAS and Airbus. He spent five years with

GECAS where the last position he held was Vice President – Product Strategy. He started his career in the Airbus Marketing Division in Toulouse, before moving to Airbus Product Strategy, where he was part of the small team that nurtured the A320neo to life.

Ross holds an MSc in Aerospace Vehicle Design from Cranfield University and a MEng in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Glasgow.

David worked both in the flight operations and sales & marketing departments at Air Atlanta Icelandic for 13 years  and held management positions with the company in Iceland and abroad. In 2006 he became CEO of Avion Aircraft Trading and today he is a partner in Avion Capital Partners in Switzerland; a company specialising in consulting and the lease of aircraft to the aviation industry. Davíð is a graduate marketing co-ordinator from Florida Institute of Technology.

Mr. Efendi is experienced Vice President Of Commercial Operations and Ecommerce with a demonstrated history of working in the airlines/aviation industry. He started working in Emirates back in 1997, where he spent 12 years working his way up to Thailand and Indochina area manager, now Mr. Efendi is Senior Vice President Commercial Operations & Ecommerce at flydubai. He holds a Master‘s degree in Business Administration (M.B.A.) focused in Economics from Bradford University.

Nils Hamsa leads the recruitment efforts at flydubai based in the United Arab Emirates. Nils has spent the last 3 years designing, building and enhancing the best in class recruitment techniques using the latest technology and online assessment testing tools. Prior to flydubai, Nils was the group head of recruitment for National Air Services a Saudi based aviation group where his journey began in aviation. Nils focuses on finding people that love what they do, be it marketing, IT, HR, piloting or providing service to passengers aboard flydubai’s flights. Now Mr. Hamsa will review the workforce market in 2018 and discuss the shortage of aviation professionals, future forecasts and possible solutions.

Mohammad Ali Dada has significant experience in setting up, restructuring and change management of Internal Audit functions globally, conducting investigations and leading Internal Audit functions with a strong focus on adding measurable value to the business. Mr. Dada has a strong background in commercial aviation having led audit functions for multiple airlines, airport service related companies, MROs and loyalty programs.

Having graduated with an Aeronautical Engineering degree in 2004, Birkan was employed by Turkish Airlines Technic within the same year. During his early years at the Company he took various positions in Line Maintenance department and later on 2010 he joined Turkish Airlines OCC team where he took a major role evolving then OCC into professional IOCC. During his position as MOCC Senior Manager and afterwards VP IOCC, he successfully digitalized workflows and developed major projects in order to seamlessly conduct operations of Turkish Airlines – the airline that flies to most countries in the world. In 2016 Birkan was appointed as SVP Aircraft Maintenance for Turkish Airlines Technic in its Istanbul Ataturk Airport facilities. During his two years of active duty, revenue has doubled and efficiency gain rate is measured as 27% for each year. On June of 2018 Birkan was promoted to his current role; SVP QA at Turkish Airlines Technic.

Suresh Nair has more than 30 years of airline top management experience in all areas of the Airline business. Presently General Manager-India, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh for AirAsia Berhad, he is involved in the International operations of the airline in this region. Mr. Nair played a key role in starting operations to 12 stations in India for AirAsia. He holds an MBA from Cochin University School of Management Studies after which Nair got a Chevening Scholarship to do Advanced Management at Manchester Business School.

Susanna Halonen-Manner, Vice President Emergency Response, Norwegian Group Airlines since 2015. Currently a member of the Board of the Aviation Emergency Response Organization (AERO) in Washington DC.  Previous work history includes work in the field of emergency response for other airlines and airline alliance work primarily at strategic level. Susanna holds a degree in Master of Science in Economy and a MBA. Currently in process of finalizing a Master of Law degree at Helsinki University specializing in International Aviation Law.

Marian Pistik is a Head of Asset Management at International Air Finance Corporation (IAFC) in Dubai. IAFC manages 50+ aircraft on operating leases to flag carriers in the MENA region. Prior to joining IAFC, Marian was the founding principal, majority owner and CEO of Aerotask, a specialized aviation advisory boutique in Dubai. A 20 something year veteran of the industry, Marian has held senior positioning at lessors; AerCap, Deutsche Structured Finance, served as CFO at airlines: SkyEurope, Wataniya, Israir, and has worked on behalf of aircraft manufacturers (Airbus) on many an airline start-up/restructuring and aircraft financing projects worldwide.

Pete is heading the Digital Department spearheading the Digital Transformation of the airline. It’s his key focus to deliver a best-in-class customer experience and deliver Malaysian Hospitality by empowering customers and employees through Digital solutions, services and innovative experiences.

Pete has spent nearly 20 years in E-commerce and online travel. Having started off with Microsoft MSN and Expedia in Germany, he was part of launching two online travel agencies, Opodo in Europe and Zuji in Asia. He then headed off for 10 years to the Middle East, starting-up the E-commerce department for Qatar Airways before taking up the role with Malaysia Airlines.

Group Captain (Retired) S M Nazmul Anam started his aviation career joining Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) in 1989 and was awarded with ‘Sword of Honor’ for best all round performance as a Fighter Pilot. After 25 years of glorious commissioned service, he opted to retire by December 2016 with a bags of experience in miltary and civil aviation. He graduated with Bachelors Degree in Aeronautics from Rajshahi University, Bangladesh and completed two Masters in ‘Defence Science’ from National University of Bangladesh and ‘Operational Art and Science’ from Maxwel Air University of USA focusing on Aviation and Air Assets Management and Global Leadership. He mastered on aviation managment and the use of air assets in the Conflict Zones too. In his 30 long years of experinec in aviation, he Commanded two Fighter Squadrons of BAF with unique professional acheivements on safety. He recieved ‘Air Force highest Commendation Certificate’ for his bravery to save BAF valuable Fighter Jet taking life risk and Medal for ‘Extra Ordinary Service’. He also recieved ‘United Nations Medal’ and ‘Certificate for Meritorious Service’ while serving in DR Congo under United Nations where he was responsible for movement and air transportation planning and execution with 78 aircraft and three airlines under his supervision.

From his present position in ICAO, he has specifically assisted 15 States through the ICAO Combined Action Team (CAT) Missions. He has the skill to negotiate very well between the CAA and the Ministry. He worked as a mentor for CAA Thailand and Cambodia for their SSC resolution. Anam invented a software tools named Aviation Safety Reporting and Tracking Management (ASRTM) to run the CAA regulatory activities including Air Operators Certification (AOC) process from desktop.

He is a keen mover of ICAO Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP), contributed from his part silently on ICAO No Country Left Behind (NCLB) programme and acts as the ICAO focal point for Regional Aviation Safety Group (RASG) for Asia-Pacific and Asia-Pacific Regional Aviation Safety Team (APRAST) as well. He serves ICAO as an expert on Aviation Legislation, Organization, Operations, Personnel Licensing and Safety Managment implementation.

Julian Carr is Aviation Director of Manchester Airport, where he oversees all air service development and airline management activities. Prior to this, he was Commercial Director of East Midlands and Bournemouth Airports whilst additionally holding responsibility for all cargo activity across the MAG Group. Before entering the airport business, Julian was a senior executive on the airline side of the table, having held positions as Managing Director of three airlines; Bmibaby, My TravelLite, and most recently Stobart Air. He also has international experience having been Head of Marketing and New Product development for IATA based out of their Montreal office, where he also worked on a variety of airline consultancy projects around the globe. He holds an MSc in Air Transport Management from Cranfield University, is a Fellow of the Charted Institute of Logistics and Transport, and is also a qualified private pilot.

Mr. Peter Wiesner has a long experience in the airlines industry. He worked in various management functions more than 30 years with Swissair. He has worked in 10 different countries on 4 continents. In May 2000, he was asked to work for Bangkok Airways as a Vice President – Marketing after retirement from Swiss Air.

At Bangkok Airways, Peter has contributed his extensive airline marketing knowledge and experience in establishing a number of marketing strategies particularly setting up Pricing Organization, which plays a major role in implementing and developing e-ticket distribution channels with all available GDS.

At the beginning of year 2010, Peter Wiesner has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Network Management. It includes Network Planning, Codeshare and Alliances, Traffic & Schedule Planning, Market Research, Product Management, Tariff & Pricing, and Revenue Management.

On 1st January 2016 he was nominated as Advisor to Board of Directors and Advisor – Network & Fleet Management, Bangkok Airways.

Rami Hindieh, in his role as an Associate Director of the Enterprise Data Management Office at the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Rami is a key accountable member of the Senior Leadership team and is responsible for leading Toronto’s Pearson Airport to become a data centric driven operation by rationalizing information, processes, applications, systems, and people across multiple business lines and IT functions. He leads in the design and execution of the Enterprise Data Strategy and ensures the airport is aligned to the latest trends in leveraging data as a key asset. An Engineer by background with over 15 years of leadership roles in the Enterprise Information Management, Business Intelligence and Data Analytics space, his prior work engagements were at major financial institutions where he headed departments with a data focus that involved delivering successful and value-add Business Intelligence solutions, Information Management strategies, and data governance frameworks.

With more than 15 years of industry experience, Gaurav  Wadekar has spent time in various industries starting from Information Technology, Financial Services, Government, and now with Aviation. His focus has been in the digital space and working towards creating better customer experience using human centric design methodologies to deliver technology projects.

G. Wadekar is currently working as a Digital Project Manager with Sydney airport in their digital program. He has mostly worked with websites, portals, and mobile apps and in his current role is responsible for the website, partner portal and customer sentiment framework projects for the airport.

Chien-Pu (Johnson) Hung, special assistant to Chairman of Air Asia Company Limited. Job role mainly focusing on strategy and business development with OEM and suppliers including both military and commercial sector. Latest project includes developing strategy for international expansion of Air Asia’s commercial MRO, and also design sales and marketing strategies.

Sven Taubert is aerospace engineer who works at Lufthansa Technik, leading the Corporate Foresight and Market Intelligence team. He is responsible for worldwide trends, technology scouting and competitor analyses. Prior to his current position, he was responsible for strategic cabin research program and site management of Lufthansa facilities at the Center of Applied Aeronautical Research in Hamburg, Germany. Before that, Sven worked with the research and technology on behalf of Airbus. He studied at the University of Stuttgart, Germany and Tokyo University, Japan and holds an aerospace engineering diploma.

Goutam Kundu was appointed Chief Information Officer of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority in June 2013. As CIO, he is responsible for all aspects of the Airports Authority’s IT strategy, infrastructure, systems, processes, and services.

Goutam’s executive career has been focused around leveraging new and existing technologies to deliver business value, boost revenue generation, and improve customer relationships in rapidly changing industries.  Throughout his continued tenure at the Airports Authority, Goutam has lead the team in consolidating the Authority’s technology footprint, developing veriScan—a biometric traveler verification product—and other distinctive in-house airport technology solutions while reinvesting in innovation and passenger-centric technologies.

Prior to his appointment with the Airports Authority, Goutam held executive leadership roles at the U.S. Mint, the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, Farm Bureau Insurance, and NIIT Technologies. Kundu earned a master’s degree in business administration from Indiana University Kelley School of Business and received his bachelor’s degree in computer science and technology from the University of Calcutta.

As the President of the Business Collaboration, Mobility & IoT Solutions at Tata Communication Limited (TCL), Anthony is responsible for the strategy, product offering and development of Business Collaboration, Mobility & IoT Solutions services at TCL.

Anthony came to Tata Communications Limited from Avaya, as the VP/GM of Unified Communications Anthony was instrumental in fostering the largest pipeline of products in the company’s history between fiscal 2010 through 2012, with 130 new offering across a broad portfolio. He led the $2B+ Unified Communications Business Unit after also leading both the Small and Medium Enterprise Business Unit and Contact Center Business Units for Avaya. Anthony joined Avaya after serving as President and CEO of Skyrider, Inc.

Prior to Skyrider, Anthony was Vice President and General Manager at Symbol Technologies (a cquired by Motorola), responsible for both the Wireless Infrastructure and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) divisions. At Symbol, Anthony defined and delivered world-class wireless networking products and strategy for enterprise mobility.

Prior to Symbol, Anthony spent 12 years with Nortel Networks holding multiple senior leadership positions around the globe. At Nortel, he was instrumental in the development of the company’s security and Ethernet-switching product portfolios and led the 2003 introduction of Nortel’s award-winning wireless portfolio.

Anthony graduated with honors from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia with a Bachelor degree in Engineering (Honors). He has recently relocated to Singapore from Silicon Valley in California.

Aboudy is the Chief Commercial Officer at London Stansted Airport, the fastest growing airport in the UK and on track to be the third largest airport in the UK with 29m passengers per year.  Before joining London Stansted, Aboudy spent more than 20 years in the airline business, where he held a number of senior Commercial positions in both full-service and low-cost airlines across Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific region.  Aboudy was previously Senior Vice President, Planning and Revenue Management at Oman Air, responsible for Network Planning, Revenue Management, Commercial Planning, Distribution, Ecommerce, and Ancillary revenue. Before that, Aboudy was the Group Head of Sales, Distribution and Ancillary revenue for all AOCs in the AirAsia group, having joined AirAsia after eight years as Head of Sales Strategy and Planning at Etihad Airways.

Kim has been in the airport baggage industry for 25 years, working mainly in controls design (HLC and LLC), support during on-site installation in updating existing baggage systems, and installing new greenfield installations.

He is now Baggage Design Lead at one of the world’s busiest airports – London Heathrow.

Kim is responsible for Baggage Innovation and Automation that will ensure growth through Innovation without expanding the existing footprint.

Mr. Takahashi is Vice President, Aviation Sales and Marketing Department of Narita International Airport Corporation. He is especially engaged in network strategy of Narita airport.

Prior to joining Narita Airport, he has a long experience in Japanese government in the domain of transport issues: civil aviation, tourism, international affairs, port, etc.

He holds a LL.B. from University of Tokyo and MSc. from London School of Economics.

Philipp Dietlin is the Director, Asia-Pacific for Dohop, an Icelandic travel technology company. He is responsible for rolling out Dohop’s innovative virtual interline solutions at airlines and airports across Asia-Pacific. Mr Dietlin has 15 years of eCommerce/distribution experience in Asia and was previously a Vice President at Nok Air in Thailand and a General Manager at HK Express in Hong Kong. Mr Dietlin holds a Master’s Degree in Transportation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Todd Siena comes from the leading edge of the millennial cohort with over a decade of experience executing on projects in commercial aerospace manufacturing, MRO, aftermarket, and finance. He is the Founder of Avia-Tek, a successful trading and consulting company that counts multinationals, state-owned enterprises, airlines, and large financial institutions among its satisfied customers. In 2017 he founded Block Aero Technologies, a Blockchain SaaS start-up utilizing artificial intelligence to revolutionize how we manage aviation assets.

Todd has given speeches to leaders of the global aviation industry at the widely respected SpeedNews Aerospace Suppliers Conference, MRO Asia-Pacific, Airport Cities, Aerotropolis Conference, and many more. In 2015 is was recognized as one of the Top 40 Under 40 Executives by Aviation Week.

Mr Daniel Bircher is the Chief Executive Officer of Zurich Airport International Asia and is accountable for Zurich Airport’s regional office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Prior to his role as CEO of Zurich Airport International Asia, he was Chief Operations Office at the Aeroporto International de Belo Horizonte (Brazil) being accountable for the operations of Belo Horizonte International Airport.

Mr Daniel Bircher has been Director Operations with Bangalore International Airport (India) and earlier Head of Safety and member of the Zurich Airport Operations Management at Zurich Airport where he was also responsible for liaison with Swiss, European and International regulatory bodies.

Mr Daniel Bircher was a long-standing member of the ACI World Safety Technical Standing Committee and Chairman of the ACI World Operational Safety Subcommittee.

Mr Daniel Bircher holds a Masters degree from University of Zurich and an MBA from University of St. Gallen.

Max is the Associate Director for Sales & Marketing of AsiaPay Singapore. With a strong background in both Sales and business development, Max has spearheaded the growth of the company and its foothold in the local payments industry with more than 10 years’ experience in consultative sales. He leads both the initiatives of the Sales and Marketing teams, ensuring that AsiaPay Singapore remains as one of the leading payment service providers in the country.

Andy Liu is Director of Myway Airlines, based in Tbilisi, Georgia. Mr Andy has 12 years of experience in aviation industry, including areas of maintenance, quality, commercial and project management, serving in STAECO (MRO), Hebei Airlines and Beijing Mandarin Air. In 2016, Andy Liu was one of startup team of Myway Airlines, working closely with aircraft leasing companies and owners throughout the world, coordinating with local authority in Georgia and responsible for company management as well.

In 2018, Andy Liu led Myway team to start regular flights of 5 destinations from Tbilisi, including Tel Aviv, Rome, Budapest, Kharkiv and Kiev. Myway will launch Tbilisi- Zhukovsky regular flight in Apr 2019.

Jonathan Newman is the Chief Commercial Officer at Caravelo – a travel tech company pushing the boundaries of innovation. Mr. Newman has over 10 years of experience in airline business holding management and commercial leadership roles with Etihad Airways, Air New Zealand and US Airways in a number of global locations including Japan, UAE, Hong Kong and Europe. He’s passionate about travel, its impact on people and how the industry can become ever more successful through technology, leadership and action

Airline commercial professional with a unique blend of leading strategic group marketing for AirAsia, leading country marketing for Indian subcontinent and regonally managing country markets cross South East and North Asia markets.

Was a key member in launching AirAsia India which was opened for sale in record time of just 2 working days; fully leveraged social media, digial and PR for the quick turnaround. Have handled key turnaround projects for AirAsia Group affiliates, launches several new routes, grown capacity and have set up marketing teams.

Currently as head of marketing for AirAsia India, responsible for the P&L of Indian routes which includes routes operated by AirAsia India (i5), and the other group airlines (AK, FD & D7) operating into Indian subcontinent.

Raj leads Human Resources function at IndiGo, India’s largest airline by market share. A key member of IndiGo’s Executive Committee, he has responsibility for all aspects of Human Resources including ifly (IndiGo’s Learning Academy) and Administration functions. Prior to this he was Amazon’s Head of Human Resources (Asia Pacific & Middle East) for their International Consumer Business and Global Technology Development Centers in the region. He joined Amazon in early 2011 as their India Director of Human Resources and supported the launch of several Amazon businesses and technology development centers in the country. Earlier, Raj was Head of HR for GE’s Global Research and India Technology Centers. He initially joined GE in 1999 and held various senior HR leadership positions supporting several businesses in various locations. Starting his HR career in the late 80’s, Raj has held several senior HR leadership positions across geographies in organizations such as Hindustan Unilever, Ford Motor Company and HSBC.

Ex Flight Crew from 1982 till 2001 on A300B4, DC10-30 & B747-200/300. Total Flight Hrs more than 10000 Hrs. I had been Head of Flight Crew Technical Training  for Oman Air, Muscat, Oman from 2003 to 2011. Now I am Head of Flight Crew Technical Training since 2011.

I am DGCA India approved PBN, ADS-B, NAT HLA, PBCS, Aireon SB ADS-B , RVSM, LVTO and CAT II/III, Monsoon , ALAR, CFIT, EGPWS, TCAS II Ver 7.1, CRM, SMS Instructor. Also B737NG/MAX Technical , Performance, LPV trainer.

A graduate of Ecole Polytechnique (Paris) in 2001 and the French National University of Civil Aviation (ENAC in Toulouse) in 2003, Pierre-Hugues has also spent one year in UC Berkeley as graduate student in transportation engineering.
Pierre-Hugues worked at the French CAA for 7 years, 3 of which is the head of the French Airlines Department (2006-2009).
From 2010 to 2012, Pierre-Hugues was working as an advisor to the French Transportation Minister.

He then joined Aéroports de Paris as deputy director of the Le Bourget division.
In 2014, along with three partners he founded La compagnie, a scheduled airline based in CDG delivering pure business class service to New York. He was in charge of all administrative, corporate and strategic topics. End of 2016, La Compagnie was partnered to the airline XL Airways France.
Pierre-Hugues joined VINCI Airports in June 2017 where he supervises all commercial activities both aeronautical and in diversification.

Periklis Papanikolaou is In-flight Instructional Designer at Delta Airlines. His professional experience reflects over 15 years of creative leadership and visionary capacities in complex, competitive, and highly regulated aviation and travel industry. Mr. Papanikolaou has outstanding record of achievement implementing new business strategies, delivering innovative solutions, and facilitating operations. He has established strategic plans, developed systems and operational overhauls, lead numerous reorganizations to enhance growth opportunities in which corporate image was transformed and profitability was re-established. Management responsibilities included multi-site supervision of 250 personnel, P&L of annual budget in excess of $100M.

Mr. Patee Sarasin served as the Chief Executive Officer of Nok Airlines Public Company Limited since 2004 until September 14, 2017. Mr. Sarasin served as the Chief Executive Officer of Bates Advertising Thailand, a JV between SPA and Bates World wide. He served as General Manager of Multi Media Orbit and Creative Liaison officer of SPA Advertising. He served at The Creative & Production with NBC, The U.S. Television Network and Research Manager of Lintas. He served as Vice Chairman and Director at Nok Airlines Public Company Limited since September 14, 2017 and January 2013 respectively until December 21, 2017. He serves as a Director of Minor Corporation Public Company Limited. He was an Independent Director of Minor International Public Company Limited since April 2, 2012 until January 9, 2018. Mr. Sarasin has a Master Degree in Mass Communication Film and Video from American University, Washington, D.C., USA, Bachelor Degree in Business Administration and Computer Science from Clark University and attended Massachusetts, USA Kings School, Canterbury, England.

Espen has long leadership and management experience from the aviation and aviation training industry, including developing and implementing major cost and organisational reduction programs, mergers, developing new commercial initiatives for SAS Scandinavian Airlines, developing new strategic initiatives for SAS Flight Academy. Additionally, Mr. Hoiby has held board positions for both start up and well established companies, has been a general manager for start up companies, pedagogical training and Airline Captain for SAS Scandinavian Airlines.

Dr. Narudh received his Air Transport doctorate from Loughborough University in UK specialising in aviation externalities. He has been a life-long aviation enthusiast with extensive experience in the field of aviation. As the head of Nok Air’s research department, he is responsible for overseeing research, strategic planning and route network development. He is also a non-executive director at a media venture capitalist firm, Topten Capital and a travel and food critic at Toptenthailand.com.

In academia, Narudh has been publishing research in the areas of airport competition, environmental impact of aviation and valuation of aviation externalities. He also appears in a number of printed media and radio giving expert-opinion on the state of the aviation industry. As an aviation enthusiast, he enjoys flying around the world. He has flown on 194 airlines to 284 airports in 109 countries.

Currently nominated Quality Manager for AIESL – EASA organization, managing Quality, developing capabilities for addition of ratings, for the A, B & C ratings of the organization at various locations and coordinating for merger of EASA approvals held within the organization. Involved in extension of Organization Capability and Business Development. Master in Root Cause Analysis and well versed with the concepts of SMS. Implement Improvement Projects for upgrading weak areas. Certified Six Sigma-Green Belt (GE).

Joined Air India after completing B.E.( Mechanical) from VJTI, Mumbai, in 1991, acquired Basic Aircraft Maintenance Engineeers License and then various related approvals. Worked as an aircraft maintenance engineer in the Engine Overhaul Facility and in an executive Management position in Quality for 7 years. Also holds an MBA in International Business from ICFAI, completed in 2009.

Mathieu Burge originally worked as a human factors consultant, specialized in interfaces, in various areas (French Navy, Peugeot, Sanofi etc.) but has always been passionate about the airline industry. He eventually integrated Air France as a User Experience Designer to build the best experience for their digital touchpoints such as the WIFI onboard portal or Airfrance.com and KLM.com websites.

 Eugénio Fernandes is the board member and CEO of euroAtlantic Airways. His career in aviation industry started back in 1994 as the Finance Manager at Alitalia. In 1999 Mr. Fernandes became a shareholder and Chief Financial Officer of Tettus-Nave and eventually moved on to become the CEO and board member at Airplus. In 2005, he began his career at euroAtlantic becoming the CEO in 2018. Fernandes holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Muhammad Osama Sheikh is a project manager at Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). He is a business professional with a diversified experience in leading digital transformation. Recently, Mr. Sheikh has successfully completed PSS & GDS migration project in record four months which is the biggest transformation project in PIA over past 18 years. Also, he is working on IATA STB (Simplify the Business) program to transform business practices and processes to deliver value to the industry. Mr. Sheikh has an MBA from Institute of Business Administration.

Craig Astridge is the Regional Head, Asia Pacific for Marketing and Commercial Services at the International Air Transport Association (IATA).  IATA is the global airlines association covering over 290 airlines. IATA’s mission is to lead, represent and serve the airline industry. Craig is responsible for managing the commercial operations of IATA in Asia Pacific and is based in Singapore. Prior to joining IATA in 2010, Craig held senior roles for Singapore Airlines in the Asia/Pacific region, based in New Zealand, Singapore and Australia. Craig was educated in New Zealand and holds a Division One First Class Honors Degree in Business from Massey University.

Elvis Ndomo is a Planning and Performance Optimization Expert at Kenya Airways. He has over 16 years of management experience in the commercial domain of the airline industry.  Mr. Ndomo has been at the forefront of high profile Projects covering Airline Commercial Planning, Pricing and Revenue Management Setups, Business Turnaround as well as Performance Management and Control for various airlines during the last 11 years. He considers himself an authority in the functional areas of commercial planning and strategy, revenue management, pricing, distribution, cost management and business development in general.

AbdulBasit Al Rawahi is the Head of Human Resources at SalamAir.  He has over 25 years of experience in airline industry with diverse management experience background in Human Resources, Corporate Strategy, Finance and Technical. Prior to SalamAir, AbdulBasit worked as Head of Human Resources at Etihad Airways and Gulf Air, the national airlines of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain respectively. He has been instrumental in transforming Human Resources with the use of best practices and instilling a culture of continuous improvement in line with business growth strategy. AbdulBasit has received several awards worldwide for his contribution to HR, including Human Resources Leadership Award by the World HRD Congress, International Who’s Who of Professionals, Asia HR Leadership Award and several Middle East and North Africa HR Excellence Awards.

Harry Tang is the Marketing Manager at Juneyao Air Thailand Branch. He started his career at Juneyao over six years ago as a Channel Sales Executive where he was fostering business ties with Shanghai-based travel agents and identifying possible corporate clients through travel agents and TMCs. Currently, Mr. Tang handles marketing, revenue management and daily operations of Juneyao’s scheduled flights to Bangkok, Phuket, Krabi and Chiang Mai. Additionally he launched a training program to Thai Airways ground handling teams, and delivers briefings to fellow Star Alliance full member carriers in Bangkok in preparation of joining Star Alliance as a Connecting Partner.

Aryes Trilaksono has more than 10 years experience in Airlines IT. In the last 3 years, he was responsible for IT Operation, Vendor Management and IT Infrastructure.

A. Trilaksono helps the business user increased their sales by 20% by designed a solution to improve network reliability, application and infrastructure enhancement.

A. Trilaksono managed to maintain the flight delay contribution caused by IT under 0.09% per year, ensure the SLA as stated on the contract and IT Service Catalogue (200+ services), managed IT readiness for peak season (Eid, Christmas and New year) and also ensure IT readiness of seasonal project such as Travel Fair.

Christiaan Hen has spent his entire career in the aviation industry. He worked for over 8 years at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in different roles like Airport Development, Capacity Management and Operations Management. The last three years at Schiphol Christiaan was Head of Innovation. During this time he met Swiss startup company Assaia. Discussions between the airport and Assaia evolved into a partnership between Christiaan and Assaia personally. At the end of 2018 he joined Assaia to become their Chief Customer Officer. In this role he is involved in both business as well as product development. Christiaan uses his extensive knowledge of the aviation industry to further enhance the Apron AI product and make sure that airlines, airports and handlers get value from using it.

Over 20 years of experience in the field of specialization in the area of airline management,
operations & training. Mr. Jinah have worked in different management levels moving up
in the chain in Flight Operations, Operations Control Center and Training.

Now the General Manager of Flight Operations, Jinah oversees daily operations of domestic
and international operations on three fleets, at Maldivian, the national carrier of Maldives.

Mr. Jinah has also developed and conduct training programs for Flight Dispatchers and is
a Maldives Civil Aviation Authority’s designated examiner for the issuing Flight Dispatcher
License.

Tom Hallam the CEO of Somon Air began his Aviation career in the United States Air Force in 1971. A distinguished Graduate of the USAF Air University and the University of Southern California Institute of Safety and Systems Management, Captain Hallam was promoted to Chief of Safety and Flight Safety Instructor for the 101st Air Refueling Wing in Bangor Maine.

Didem Demirel a Digital Marketing Specialist at Turkish Airlines has broad experience in marketing. Since joining the airline in 2015, Ms. Demirel had developed numerous marketing strategies, including managing more than 4000 campaigns and 23K Adgroups. She was involved in planning the communication path of the brand and coordinated non-air partner communications on offline and online media. Ms. Demirel holds a Masters in Marketing from the Royal Holloway University of London.

Darius Kajokas is a CEO and Board Member of Avion Express, the largest narrow-body ACMI operator in the world.
Darius came to aviation in mid-2017 and brought his over 9 years’ experience in finance working for some of the world’s and region’s leading companies in the fields of FMCG, pharmacy as well as one of the Big Four firms. Darius has acquired vast international experience and built a global expertise in areas such as corporate finance, strategic planning and strategy implementation and negotiations.
Darius holds an MBA of Financial Economics from Rotterdam University. Now he will speak about the ACMI role in the context of growing aviation market.

Michel Treskin has been working in aviation industry for 45 years. He is ex-military pilot with 13 years of experience, flying Canadian jet aircrafts and tactical helicopter gunships. After he finished his pilot career he became a pilot selection specialist, having interviewed and selected over 10.000 pilots.

Swiftair’s Compliance Monitoring Manager Enrique Paredes-Gacimartin has years of experience in various aviation fields. He is a specialist in Quality Systems, Delivery and Redelivery of Aircraft, Asset Management, Aviation related training and even a bigger number of aviation related fields.

Mr. Manish Yadav is associated with esteemed Modern College of Business & Sciences in Oman as an Assistant Professor of Aviation Management in Department of Business. He has diverse work experience of more than a decade as aviation educator & aviation industry professional with premier organizations. Along with IATA certified instructor in Travel & Tourism, he is pursuing doctorate from University of Petroleum & Energy Studies (UPES), Dehradun (India) under the banner of EU-INDIA initiative by the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation. He is very active in aviation research and has presented & published research papers in various domestic & international conferences across globe.

Tadas Goberis – Chairman of the Board and the CEO of AviaAM Leasing, global aviation company engaged in commercial aircraft acquisition, leasing and sales. Under Tada’s guidance, in only one year, the company has implemented projects worth $1 Billion and has been ranked as a worldwide TOP50 best-performing aviation lessor for the third time in a row.

Rahul Shah is senior vice president of the AAR Corporation.

He joined the organisation in 1991 as a development engineer for AAR Engine Component Services in New York and Connecticut, USA. He then became program manager, with responsibility for sales and marketing of the company’s engine component repair business, graduating to VP sales and marketing for AAR’s Asia Pacific region in 2000.

He was promoted to Asia Pacific Operations MD in 2002 – the business growing seven-fold under his leadership.

Rahul is now focused on growing AAR’s presence in Africa, India and the Middle East, in addition to Asia Pacific.

After beginning her career in Corporate Banking, Trade & Working Capital at Barclays, Carly combined her experience in global trade with her lifelong interest in aviation, beginning her career at IAG Cargo, the cargo business behind British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling and Level, in 2017. Carly currently occupies the position of Head of Innovation for the company.

Carly’s current role involves exploring the latest emerging technologies and assessing their application for the logistics industry, developing ideas that will provide IAG Cargo’s business and customers with the most exciting technological advances.

Maurizio Anichini – aviation leader with more than 35 years experience as co-founder, chairman, advisory board member, director, assistant director, manager, consultant, project manager, coordinator, and representative in ground operations, aviation safety and quality, passenger services, inflight catering, audit program development, global training and project management.

– Developed and launched of the SMS Implementation Professionals Program

– Developed the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO).

– Pioneered and implemented operational improvement processes throughout the industry.

Specialties: Ground handling, SMS implementation, civil aviation, airport, and airline operations, leadership, team builder, contract management and negotiations, cost management, cost control, audit program development, program management, operations process improvement, system implementation

Alya A. Hafeedh AL Qalam AL Yafie is Manager Development Engineering at Oman Air with experience on Avionics/ Electrical systems, e-Enablement, IFE and connectivity across Oman Air fleets currently in charge of IFE and connectivity.

Alya A. Hafeedh AL Qalam AL Yafie received degree of Master of Science in Maintenance Management from Glasgow Caledonian in the period from 2008 -2011, in addition to a high diploma from college of aeronautical science and technology.

Alya Hafeedh AL Qalam AL Yafie is the first female Gulf National Aircraft Avionics Maintenance Engineer who successfully acquired DGCAR Oman Aircraft Maintenance Engineer License in 1998 on Aircraft Avionics and Electrical Systems.

Mihai Patrascu has been the General Manager of Satu Mare Airport since June 2018. Mr. Patrascu has extensive experience in the aviation industry and has been working in airport management for over 10 years. Back in 2008 he was responsible for bringing Austrian Airlines to Baia Mare. Overall, Mr. Patrascu has increased general and business flights by over 300% during his time at Baia Mare Airport. Mr. Patrascu speaks 6 languages fluently and has written 8 books throughout his career.

Dewey Yee is Vice Chairman and Managing Director at Aergo Capital Asia. Mr. Yee has worked for the aviation industry for over 30 years.  Dewey began his career in the 1980s and was personally hired by Tony Ryan as Head of Marketing, based in Hong Kong and tasked with opening China to the aircraft leasing business. Dewey has held senior leadership roles at a number of major aviation entities including GATX Capital Corporation, Babcock & Brown, Tokyo-Mitsubishi International, Société Générale Asia, and China Everbright. He had personally formulated innovative tax and policy measures to develop Hong Kong to become a global Aerospace Finance Centre and his work resulted in the passing of the 2017 Inland Revenue Bill to create a new tax regime for the aircraft leasing, financing and investment sector in Hong Kong.

Rob leads the advisory team at Aerotask and is one of the company’s founding shareholders.

Aerotask is a global aviation consultancy offering asset management and financial solutions to airlines, lessors, financial institutions, and aviation investors.

Rob has proven experience in structuring and modelling complex aircraft lease transactions, as well as aviation start-ups, mergers & acquisitions, and restructurings. A regular speaker at aviation conferences and events, Rob regularly covers topics related to aircraft leasing, financing, and aircraft appraisals.

Prior to starting Aerotask, Rob worked for Airbus consultancy; tasc aviation.

Rob holds a Finance degree from the University of Wollongong where he was awarded top graduate, and has also been admitted in the ISTAT appraisers program.

Alain is UnaBiz‘  Vice President, Industrial development and the Head of UnaBiz Aerospace Business Unit. Alain brings 25 years of expertise in the development and deployment of key digital technologies and business processes.

In the past seven years, Alain developed a team of researchers at Airbus to redefine the way aircraft maintenance is performed. Improvements in operation safety and productivity were achieved thanks to the deployment of digital information from advanced virtual training to augmented reality and wearable computing.

He also started TESTIA Asia Pacific, a fully owned subsidiary of Airbus Group dedicated to Non-Destructive Testing. Prior to this, Alain was leading the industrial product lifecycle management for Olympus in Singapore. He also played key roles in start up companies leading the way in 3D printing and Virtual Reality.

Philipp Kugelmann is a Managing Director at PhilCo, an independent consultancy specialising in aviation and aircraft leasing and financing. With over 10 years experience in Sales, Operations and Business Development, Philipp Kugelmann is having a an extensive work experience in developing long-term high value client relationships. He is a leader who has a track record for building successful teams.

Shane Reid is President and Partner of Steigen Aviation Ltd, a VIP charter and aircraft leasing company based in the Philippines with addition companies within the group being Platinum Skies, Silver Skies and Beach Flyer Seaplanes.