With the last of our 2013 regional event now behind us it is time to look forward to the 19thWorld Route Development Forum which is just over two months away. Registrations are now coming in thick and fast for the event, which will take place in Las Vegas 5-8 October. Here the HUB provides you with an event update.

Over 215 airlines have already confirmed their participation at Routes with attendance 7% up year on year compared with last year’s World Routes in Abu Dhabi which saw over 650 Airline delegates in attendance.

This week alone has seen registrations from two airlines that have not attended World Routes for a number of years, namely Royal Jordanian, led by Director Fleet, Network Planning and Alliances, Basma Majali, and Virgin Australia whose GM Network Planning Hope Antzoulatos will lead their planning team in Las Vegas.

There is a very strong presence of North America based carriers signed up with the major full service carriers United, Delta, American and US Airways (ahead of the Q3 merger) signed up. On the low cost front Southwest, JetBlue and Spirit will all be present in Las Vegas, along with Allegiant, Sun Country, Alaska Airlines and Virgin America whilst, from North of the border, Air Canada, Air Transat, WestJet and Sunwing will also be represented at the event. From Latin America key operators including LATAM, Avianca, Aeromexico and COPA Airlines are also all confirmed.

A strong Chinese presence will be in Las Vegas with registrations received from the big four Chinese carriers; China Southern, Hainan Airlines, Air China and China Eastern, whilst ANA and JAL will be present from Japan. Other major operators confirmed from the Asia Pacific market include Vietnam Airlines, China Airlines, Thai Airways Intl and Philippine Airlines. Further registrations have also been received from Qantas and Jetstar who will be present from Australia.

From Europe, Air France will bring a significant presence to the event as will the Lufthansa Group, with British Airways, KLM, Alitalia and SAS amongst the other major airlines signed up. Confirmed European low cost carrier presence comes from easyJet, Norwegian, Germanwings and Transavia whilst the Middle East contingent is led by Emirates, Etihad, Qatar and Oman Air.

To date over 650 delegates representing over 500 airports have registered to attend World Routes in Las Vegas including first time attendees Raleigh - Durham International Airport, El Paso International Airport, and Atlantic City International Airport. Other recent airport registrations include Abidjan International Airport (AERIA), Maastricht Aachen Airport, GMR Hyderabad International Airport, Donetsk International Airport, Chubu Centrair International Airport(NGO), King Fahd International Airport and Aruba Airport Authority amongst many, many others.

The complete and up to date list of attendees for World Routes 2012 can be found here.

Scheduling for World Routes in Las Vegas opened on 17thJune and almost 3,000 meetings have already been scheduled through our brand new online meeting requests system. Register now and secure your place at this year’s largest commercial aviation event.