AviaDev returns to the Mother City

Cape Town Air Access - a partnership between the City of Cape Town, Western Cape Government, Wesgro, Cape Town Tourism, South African Tourism, Airports Company South Africa and private sector partners – and the Cape Town and the Western Cape Convention Bureau, a division at Wesgro, supported the return of AviaDev 2019 to Cape Town.

AviaDev has established itself as the leading air service development conference in Africa, uniting airlines, airports and tourism authorities to meet and discuss increasing connectivity to, from and within the continent.  AviaDev has confirmed it will return to Cape Town on 24-26 April 2019 for its fourth edition with the support of joint hosts, Cape Town Air Access and ACSA.  The Cape Town and Western Cape Convention Bureau assisted in securing the venue for AviaDev 2019 at the Century City Conference Centre.

The 2018 event attracted participation from over 30 Countries and is committed to retain its African centric focus.  Since inception, AviaDev has been the catalyst for partnerships including notably the Kigali-Harare-Cape Town route that has been served by RwandAir since May 2018.

Wesgro CEO, Tim Harris, commented: “We are pleased to see this leading aviation conference return to Cape Town for the 2nd consecutive year. This re-affirms the destination as a premium host city for major events and an emerging aviation hub in Africa. The conference offers a prime opportunity for local specialists in the aviation industry to collaborate with senior world leaders in this sector.  We look forward to forging new relationships and partnerships at April’s event, with the view to make increased connectivity across Africa a reality.”

Deon Cloete, General Manager of Airports Company South Africa, Cape Town International Airport added: “Air traffic into Cape Town continues to be an important driver for stimulating tourism in our region. Since the concerted effort in focusing on Air Access, we have seen a number of new routes and route expansions into the destination. Bringing AviaDev back to Cape Town is wonderful for the region and will create an excellent platform to explore future sustainable aviation opportunities.”

Jon Howell, Managing Director AviaDev said, “Cape Town is the perfect location to host AviaDev Africa. The destination is a World-class example of what can be achieved with a can-do attitude and collaborative approach to route development. With 57% of all travellers arriving at their final destination by air, aviation is the missing piece of the jigsaw that can catalyse economic growth across the African continent. Through an innovative and insightful conference agenda, varied networking opportunities and our pre-arranged meetings, our mandate is to advance Africa's connectivity ”

The AviaDev agenda is developed in partnership with an esteemed advisory board including: Ato Girma Wake, former CEO of Ethiopian Airlines; Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Thome, Publisher, ATC News; Charmaine Thome, General Manager, Aviareps Southern Africa; Johan Pauwels, Regional Vice President Airline Business Group, Africa and France, Hahn Air Lines GmbH; Refilwe Ledwaba, Executive Director, Women and Aviation; Gad Wavomba, Director, Embraer; Marcel Langeslag, Project Manager, NACO, Netherlands Airport Consultants; David King, Project Manager at WESGRO, Cape Town Air Access and Dikko Nwachukwu, Chairman, jetWest Partners Ltd.

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