Dato’ Seri Bashir Ahmad, aged 58 and a Malaysian is the Managing Director and CEO of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad since June 2003. Malaysia Airports is a public listed company and operates KL International Airport and 38 other airports in Malaysia. Dato’ Seri Bashir is a graduate of University Malaya with a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Honours) majoring in International Relations. He started his career with Malaysia Airlines (“MAS”), the National carrier of Malaysia. He has held various senior positions in Malaysia Airlines during the 29 years of service in the said organization. He started as a Management trainee in 1972 and rose up to the position of sales manager and marketing manager by 1982.

He was promoted to the position of International Relations Manager in 1982 and rose up the ranks to become Deputy Director of International Relations in 1991. In that capacity his primary function was to acquire traffic rights for the expansion of MAS network to 79 destinations. He became the Director of Corporate Planning in 1992 and was the Senior Vice-President of Commercial until 1997. He was then appointed as the Executive Vice-President of the airline. As the Executive Vice-President he was responsible for the achievement of airline revenue budget and operational efficiency, covering the areas of planning, marketing, distribution, flight operations and cabin crew, customer services and ground operations.

Dato’ Seri Bashir was appointed as the Aviation Advisor of the Ministry of Transport Malaysia in 2001 and he held the position until he became the Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad in 2003. As the CEO in Malaysia Airports, he sets the direction of the company and manages the overall performance of the company which includes the airports and several aviation as well as non-aviation related subsidiaries, such as the hotel and plantation subsidiaries. Apart from the Malaysia Airports Main Board, Dato’ Seri Bashir Ahmad also sits on the Board of Finance and Investment Committee, Board Risk Management Committee and Board Planning and Development Committee of MAHB as well as some of the subsidiary Boards. Dato’ Seri Bashir, in his course of work has been a member of Industry Affairs Committee of IATA, Committee member of Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, Board member of ASEAN Tourism Association, member of British/Malaysia Business Council, Board member of Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board and Vice president of Malaysian Hockey Federation. He sits in the Asia-Pacific ACI (Airports Council International) Board and the World Governing Board of ACI.

The Hon Anthony Albanese MP

Anthony Albanese is the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, and the Leader of the House of Representatives.

Minister Albanese was first elected to Federal Parliament in 1996 as the Member for Grayndler. He served as a member of the Shadow Ministry from 1998 to 2007.

Minister Albanese has an Economics Degree from Sydney University. His seat of Grayndler is located in Sydney’s inner west, where he has lived all his life. Minister Albanese was born 2 March 1963 in Sydney, NSW.

Parliamentary Service Elected to the House of Representatives as the Member for Grayndler in 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2007.

Ministerial Appointments Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government from 3 December 2007.

Committee Service House of Representatives: • Ageing (March 2002 to August 2004) • Economics, Finance and Public Administration (December 1998 to August 2004) • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs (May 1996 to August 1998) • Financial Institutions and Public Administration (May 1996 to August 1998) • Communications, Transport and Microeconomic Reform (May 1996 to November 1997).

Mr. Bahl was named general manager china by Northwest Airlines, Inc. in 2003 and is responsible for Northwest’s marketing, sales, operations, finance and administrative functions throughout China in support of the carrier’s daily flights from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Mr. Bahl, served Northwest Airlines’ Asia/Pacific Finance division in Tokyo since 2001. Prior to taking his current position he has worked in business units of Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, Qantas and Air India and has lived in several cities throughout Asia Pacific.

Mr. Bahl holds a MBA and post degree from Oxford Brooks University in the United Kingdom and Hotel Management Institute in New Delhi.

He was appointed to MAS Board on 23 August 2004, then as Executive Director on 23 August 2005 and later as Executive Director/CFO on 1 February, 2006. He was the Managing Director/ Chief Financial Officer of Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad (PMB) prior to that. Before PMB, he was with Pricewaterhousecoopers in their London and Hong Kong offices, where he was in the Audit and Business Advisory Services division, specialising in Banking and Capital Markets. While in Pricewaterhousecoopers, he was involved in a number of audit and advisory assignments involving risk management advisory, IPOs, structured transactions and derivatives products. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with double first class honours in Economics. He is a Chartered Accountant and an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and also an associate of the Association of Corporate Treasurers,United Kingdom.

Bruce, as GGM Commercial, is responsible for Network, Marketing, Pricing, Revenue Management, Distribution, Government Relations, Scheduling, Fleet, Business Development and Commercial Systems. Bruce has been involved in Jetstar since July 2003 developing the business case, launching the brand and driving revenue performance that resulted in ongoing profitable operations for the airline since start-up – previously not achieved by any low fares carrier established by a full service parent airline. Jetstar is a low fares airline with a fresh and open approach to air travel. The carrier commenced operations on 25 May 2004 with domestic services to 14 destinations along the Australian east coast. Jetstar has since expanded its domestic operations and now operates over 1,000 short haul services each week to 20 Australian destinations, some short haul international services to Christchurch in New Zealand and a daily Singapore-Darwin-Cairns return service. Jetstar has over 14 per cent share of the Australian domestic market. Jetstar successfully commenced value based long haul international flights in November 2006, and now directly serves 6 international markets from either Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. Existing overseas markets include Bangkok, Phuket, Ho Chi Minh City, Bali, Honolulu and Osaka and in the future Nagoya and Kuala Lumpur. Prior to joining Jetstar, Bruce worked for The Boston Consulting Group where he was a core member of there Travel and Tourism practice area. Bruce has worked for various airlines within Australia, Asia and United States in a wide range of areas including sales, distribution, pricing, revenue management, marketing, airline loyalty programs, customer relationship management, finance, treasury, business strategy and supply chain. Bruce has a Civil Engineering Degree from The University of New South Wales, and a Master of Business Administration from The Australian Graduate School of Management and the Anderson School at UCLA.

Dennis Chant is the Managing Director of Queensland Airports Limited, the owner-operator of Gold Coast, Townsville and Mount Isa Airports in Australia. Dennis has had 36 years experience in the aviation, maritime and tourism industries in Australia and internationally.

He was responsible for the management and development of Cairns International Airport following its transfer from the Federal Government to the Cairns Port Authority in 1981. Cairns was the first major regional airport in Australia to be transferred from federal control to local ownership. In his nine years at Gold Coast Airport, he has initiated marketing and development strategies focussed on exploitation of its leisure travel potential. Over the last three years he and his team have had responsibility for acquisition of Townsville and Mount Isa Airports and developing Queensland Airports Ltd into the largest operator of regional airports in Australia.

Dennis Chant is a member of the Board of Airports Council International – Asia Pacific Region, Queensland Events – Gold Coast and formerly Chairman of Gold Coast Tourism. He holds a degree in civil engineering and a Masters degree in Business Administration. Dennis has completed the Senior Airport Management Course at the International Aviation Management Training Institute in Montreal.

Ms Chong Phit Lian, Chief Executive Officer of Jetstar Asia/Valuair, has over 28 years of management experience in the lifestyle, leisure, tourism, manufacturing and engineering industries. Chong holds Engineering and Business Administration qualifications and also attended post experience management courses sponsored by her employer. Chong started her career in the 1970’s as Engineering Assistant. She later rose through the ranks to Engineering Workshop Management, taking charge of a local Multi National Corporation’s independent business. Chong joined Singapore Technologies Corp (later restructured to be part of SembCorp Industries) in 1986 as Business Development manager and subsequently became Director of Business Development. She was then promoted to lead Singapore Precision Industries and Singapore Mint as President and Chief Executive Officer. During her 16 years as President and CEO of Singapore Precision Industries and The Singapore Mint, Chong was also Chief Executive (Group General Manager) of Safe Enterprises Group till she completed the restructuring and divestment of companies under the Group. Chong was on the Board of several companies during her time with Singapore Technologies and the SembCorp Group. Some of her Board memberships included : - Chairman of Tianjin Everbest Gear Manufacturing Company (China). - Director of Singapore Precision Industries - Chairman of Singapore Mint Pte. Ltd - Director of ST Anda Logistic (China) - Executive Director of SemHotel Group (Hotels in China, Bintan, Vietnam) - Director of Safe Enterprises Group (Consumer retail, Travel, Entertainment, Restaurants, Avis Car Rental , Resorts in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia) In March 2006, Chong joined Jetstar Asia Airways and is currently serving as Chief Executive Officer of OrangeStar Pte Ltd, Jetstar Asia Airways and Valuair.

Mr. Coutinho has over fourteen years of experience out of which ten years in mainstream Airline Marketing and Customer Service with an edge in Product Development & planning, Loyalty Program, e-Commerce, and direct marketing activities. Belson with his engineering background, started his airline career with the Loyalty Program at Jet Airways and is currently heading its eCommerce & Distribution strategy with key focus in increasing direct sales, reduce distribution cost, web management & online communication, product development including self-service check-in (Web and Kiosk), E-ticketing and devise strategies to enhance and create new distribution channels.

Paul Dalton was appointed the Regional Vice President, Sales and Relationship Management (North Asia and Pacific), in mid-2006, as the new single SITA organization came into being.

In his current role, Paul has responsibilities in the areas of customer relationship, sales and account management and a geographical coverage which spans across the North Asia and Pacific region. This covers all SITA products and services provided by its three business units: Airport and Desktop Services (ADS), Passenger and Travel Solutions (PTS), and Communication Services. He heads a team of sales and customer service professionals catering to the airport, airline and government sectors generating annual revenue of $160 million.

Prior to this, Paul was the Regional Vice President (South East Asia, Australasia and Pacific) for the former division, SITA Information Networking Computing (SITA INC), from September 2003, where he was responsible for sales and marketing activities in the ASEAN countries, Australasia and the Pacific islands.

Based in Singapore, Paul first joined SITA in 2002 as the Regional Vice President (Australasia and Pacific) where he headed the sales and marketing for the region. In addition, he led the Government Sector in the Asia Pacific region with particular emphasis on Border Security.

Before joining SITA, Paul spent nine years with Telstra Corporation where he held a number of management positions in Sales and Marketing. He was on the Board of Investment 2000, a joint venture company which supported foreign investment in Australia, leveraging the Olympic Games in 2000. He left Telstra as the Director of Sales for Small and Medium Business.

Paul has a Bachelor of Economics degree and a Marketing diploma. His previous background was in the investment banking industry, working with a number of organizations including Bankers Trust and Chase Manhattan Bank.

An Australian national, Paul is married with two children and enjoys golf and running.

Dr. Dong Zhiyi, President and CEO of Beijing Capital International Airport Co., Ltd (BCIA), Director of the Airports Council International (ACI). Dr. Dong has more than 20 years’ experience in civil aviation and airport management. He had held leading posts in Civil Aviation Authority and subordinate enterprises before joined BCIA. Furthermore, as an officer of Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, he led Beijing Capital International Airport Venue Team, providing secure, efficient, smooth and high quality departure and arrival service for the Olympic family members.

Peter established the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, the region’s leading specialist aviation consultancy and research practice, in 1990. Over the past 15 years he has been involved in a wide range of consulting assignments, focused in the Asia Pacific region. These include airport and airline privatisation, passenger and freight airport marketing, advice to governments and governmental organisations on policy, bilateral and multilateral issues, airline startup business planning, traffic forecasting and airline management education. Peter worked with IATA in Geneva for 10 years and was until recently, Chairman of IATA’s World Aviation Regulatory Monitor Group. Peter is the immediate past President of the Aviation Law Association of Australia and New Zealand. He is Managing Director of a tourism development company and sits on a number of industry committees providing advice on tourism and aviation policy. He is a law graduate of London and Melbourne Universities, with an LLM from McGill University’s Institute of Air and Space Law.

Andrew Herdman has held the position of Director General of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) since November 2004. In this role he is committed to expanding the role of the Association as the leading trade organization for international airlines based in the Asia-Pacific region, addressing a wide range of both regional and global policy issues affecting the industry. AAPA works closely with regulators and other industry associations with the aim of fostering the sustainable growth of international civil aviation. Prior to joining the AAPA, Andrew held a number of senior positions with the Swire Group, the parent company of Cathay Pacific Airways, with other diverse interests in aviation, property, beverages, marine services, trading and industrial sectors, predominantly based in the Greater China region, most recently as Director Corporate Affairs at Swire Pacific and a Director of the parent holding company, John Swire & Sons. Mr. Herdman spent much of his earlier career in a variety of senior aviation-related roles with Cathay Pacific Airways and its associated companies, including: Managing Director, Cathay Pacific Catering Services, Managing Director of Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Ltd (HAECO), Chairman of Xiamen-based TAECO; Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo; Director and General Manager of ABACUS, and a board member of Worldspan. Mr. Herdman is a graduate of Oxford University, with BA (Hons) and a post-graduate BPhil in management studies. Married with two daughters, he also enjoys tennis, sailing and hiking.

As Vice President, Airline Business Group Asia Pacific, Damian is responsible for managing the growth of Amadeus business which includes Amadeus' Altéa suite of airline IT solutions. Damian joined Amadeus in 2005.

In addition, he is responsible for securing airline distribution contracts and overseeing the development of Amadeus' successful value-based pricing initiative in the region. Damian is based at Amadeus’ Asia Pacific headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand.

Prior to joining Amadeus, Damian held senior management positions at Datalex PLC and Westinghouse. Joining Datalex in 1998 as Vice President Sales (Americas), he became General Manager for Asia Pacific, and subsequently Senior Vice President (Commercial), managing global sales and marketing functions of the company, including multi-channel partners, product management and corporate communications.

During his time as Regional Director for Europe, Africa and Middle East for Westinghouse, he was responsible for reengineering the region and leading it to its most profitable period. Damian’s previous positions also include Regional Manager Asia Pacific for the Airline Technology division of Westinghouse based in Singapore, as well as Internet Product Manager at Northrop Grumman Canada (now part of SITA).

Damien Horth is managing director at UBS. He is head of Asian transport research and the global co-coordinator for the transport sector. Prior to moving to Hong Kong in June 2005, Damien was a key member of UBS's number 1 rated European transport team. He led the Asian team to a #1 ranking in the Institutional Investor survey within six months of his arrival. Damien joined UBS from ABN AMRO in 2002. His experience in the transport sector stretches back almost 15 years. Damien started his career in Australia, where he covered the local transport sector for both ABN AMRO and BT Alex Brown. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (finance and accounting) degree from the University Of New England, Australia.

With nearly 20 years in the transport and travel industry, David brings a wealth of experience to airlines and the companies that serve them. He was one of the three original officers at the founding of Virgin Blue, holding executive management positions including Head of Commercial and Head of Strategy & Communication during its period of high growth from its formation in 1999 to 2005. He also led the airline's search for new commercial opportunities in Asia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Prior to his tenure at Virgin Blue, David served as Deputy Director of Sales and Marketing for Virgin Express, the Brussels based European LCC of the Virgin Group. He also has extensive experience in the fuel industry and was a former US licensed travel agent. Today, David consults for a number of key clients focused on the LCC sector in both emerging and established markets. In 2006, he was appointed as a member of the Board of Directors of Vueling, a LCC based in Barcelona, Spain. He holds a BA of International Relations from Brown University in the United States and an MBA from INSEAD in France. Originally from the US state of Colorado, David has lived in eight countries and traveled to over 90 others.

Dato' Sri Idris Jala, aged 47, is a Malaysian. He graduated with a Bachelor Degree (Hons) (B.Soc Sc) in Development Studies/Management in University Sains Malaysia in 1982. He later obtained a Masters Degree in Industrial Relations from University of Warwick, United Kingdom in 1986. Prior to MAS, he was attached to Shell MDS (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. as Managing Director and Executive Director of Shell Malaysia Ltd, Gas & Power from 2003 to 30 November 2005. He joined Sarawak Shell Berhad in 1982 and 1987 as Industrial Relations Officer and as Head Staff Development. In 1989, he was appointed as Human Resource Advisor of Shell International, Holland and Head HR Planning of Sarawak Shell Berhad in 1993. From 1995 to 1997, he was appointed as Business Reenginnering Manager, Retail Area Manager and Senior Manager, National Retail Sales of Shell Malaysia Ltd. In 1998, he was promoted as Chairman/Managing Director (LPG) of Shell Sri Lanka. From 2000 to 2001, he was transferred to London as Vice President Business Development Consultancy and Vice President Retail Marketing, SRI of Shell Int. Pet. Co, United Kingdom (London). He was appointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Airline System Berhad on 1 December 2005.

Con is an airline executive with over 17 years experience. He was Head of Strategy at Qantas prior to joining Viva Macau and was the founding Chief Executive of Jetstar Asia. He has held a number of senior executive roles in some of the region's well-known airlines, including Marketing and Loyalty Program management at Singapore Airlines; Commercial Director and CFO of Ansett International; and General Manager, Indonesia and Corporate Finance General Manager for Ansett Australia Group. As Commercial Director & CFO of Ansett, Con's team established international operations for the airlines in several Asian countries. Con holds a Bachelor of Economics from Monash University in Melbourne, and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Mr Lim, based in Singapore, has been awarded two scholarships by the Singapore Government. The first was to complete an undergraduate Masters degree in electronics engineering in the prestigious French ‘Grande Ecole’ schools of engineering. The second was awarded while he was serving with the Ministry of Defence of Singapore to read a Masters in Public Administration course at the elite ENA of France. After a period of 10 years as a Defense Specialist Engineer, Mr Lim left the Civil Service to start his own businesses. Mr Lim currently has an extensive portfolio of businesses spanning many countries. He is the Chairman of a biomedical company Lynk Biotechnologies Private Limited which has developed a revolutionary platform for transdermal delivery of water-soluble drugs and also Chairman of WooWorld Private Limited which is a supplier of online and mobile games to telcos in China, Japan and South East Asia. Mr Lim is also a Director in a medical supply company specialising in providing advanced medical systems to hospitals.

Mr. Nam, PhD in Economics, studied in the former Soviet Union during 1981-1990, joined Vietnam's flag carrier in late 1990. He was Vietnam Airlines' Director Marketing Planning between 1993 and 2004 responsible for network & fleet planning, industry cooperation and alliances, marketing, frequent flyer program. Mr. Nam joined Pacific Airlines as Managing Director on 01 July 2008 and led the company's ownership and business model restructuring program under leadership of Vietnam's Ministry of Finance and State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC). Pacific Airlines made its transformation into LCC on 13 Feb 2007 and sold 30% of its shares to Qantas Airways, the first tranche of which was completed on 30 Jul 2007. With investments from SCIC and Qantas, Pacific Airlines has started its domestic expansion and planned for international expansion from mid 2008.

An accomplished, results-driven Executive with around 12 years of demonstrated success directing business and technology operations to optimize bottom line productivity expertise includes strategic planning, infrastructure, quality assurance, and business process improvement

Have been associated with Galileo Emirates, Galileo International, Saudi Arabian Airlines AL-Tayyar, Gold Medal Travels, Thomas Cook India InterGlobe Technologies, Air Deccan, Kingfisher Airlines, Cushman & Wakefield, StayXS, and UTStarcom for different project associations.

Have managed large-scale business critical projects in different domains including Travel IT, dedicated to improving customer satisfaction; reduce costs and controlling risk, with effective vendor management.

Mr. Peermohamed joined low cost start up IndiGo in Delhi in May 2006 as Chief Financial Officer. He is a key member of the core team which set up the airline, and is responsible for the finance and procurement functions, having successfully financed the first 23 A320 IndiGo aircraft so far.

Prior to joining IndiGo, Mr. Peermohamed was with Emirates in Dubai, since 1989 when Emirates had two Airbus aircraft and was responsible for financing its entire fleet of 92 aircraft as of 2006. His last position held with Emirates was Senior Vice President – Corporate Treasury when he was responsible for treasury, aircraft finance, bond issues, corporate finance, management accounts and a key member of the aircraft acquisition team. He pioneered several Islamic leases for Emirates and completed three ground breaking successful bond issues for Emirates to raise more than USD 1.5 billion.

Prior to Emirates he worked as a consultant with KPMG in Dubai.

Mr. Peermohamed holds a Bachelor of Science from Bombay University, is a Chartered Accountant (India) and a Chartered Financial Analyst (USA).

In October 2004, Stefan Pichler joined Virgin Blue as Chief Commercial Officer, responsible for Virgin Blue’s network management, sales, product and services, marketing and brand management. Formerly the CEO of Thomas Cook where Stefan built the company from a national tour operator to the world’s second largest leisure group, he has also held senior executive and executive board roles with Lufthansa. Joining Lufthansa in 1989 as the Marketing & Sales Manager for France, Stefan was appointed Managing Director of Lufthansa France in 1991. Additional roles included his appointments as Head of Worldwide Sales in 1996 and a member of Lufthansa’s Executive Board in1997. Stefan combines both extensive airline experience with major carriers in Europe with extensive knowledge of brands, including working with leading global brands such as NIKE. He is formerly a non-executive director of major German corporations including Deutsche Bank and Steigenberger Hotels in Germany. A former internationally ranked marathon runner, Stefan started his career as the Head of Sport Promotions at NIKE International in Oregon. He has a Masters Degree in both Economics and Law from Augsburg University.

Eddy Porwanto has a specialty in finance. He gets his education as well as working experience all in the field of finance, and has been working as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in various industries for the last 10 years. Since November 2007, he has been appointed as Executive Vice President Finance of PT Garuda Indonesia. Before this, he held several positions, i.e. : Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of PT. General Motor Indonesia (2003-2007), Finance Director of PT. Reckit Benkiser Indonesia (1998-2003) and various finance managers in PT. BAT Indonesia (1993-1998). Mr. Eddy Porwanto graduated with Master of Business Administration (MBA) from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA and he finished Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Accounting at Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon, USA.

Christophe POTOCKI began his career in ATR in 1989. During 1992 -1994, he was assigned as the Assistant to SVP Sales & Marketing. From 1996, he was appointed as Sales Director for the ATR Aircraft Sales in Europe. As from October 2004, he is holding two positions and took up the assignment of Sales and Support activities of ATR Eastern Support Pte Ltd in Singapore as President. He is also in charge for aircraft sales in some markets in South East Asia.

Jay Shabat is the publisher and co-founder of Airline Weekly, a leading newsletter about the world’s airline industry. His job entails closely following global airline industry trends, analyzing them and writing about them.

Prior to launching the business in 2004, Jay received his Masters degree in international affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in New York. Prior to that he received his Bachelors degree in international business from The George Washington University in Washington, DC, during which time he held internships on Capitol Hill and at the White House. His airline experience includes six years of pricing and revenue management at US Airways and Air France. He’s since traveled to more than 40 different countries, including China, where he recently taught airline management classes at the Civil Aviation University of China (CAUC) in Tianjin.

Ramki Sundaram graduated from the coveted Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Chennai and went on to do his Masters in Business Administration from XLRI Jamshedpur. Following which he chose a career in Investment banking, and spent over 10 years as an investment banker in the aviation domain. A large part of his career was involved in handling international assignments. During his international stints he developed strong relationships both with several Indian and international banks that regularly participate in Indian issues. He served as Director in ANZ Investment Bank‘s Leasing and Asset Finance Team (LSAF) and was responsible for originating: structuring and executing key transactions for the Bank.

His vast and varied assignments notably include spearheading the aviation business for Investec Bank (UK) Ltd and giving wings to the Bank’s enter India strategy. He has played a crucial role in establishing the Bank as the leading aviation structured finance house operating out of India. Over the years he has structured and executed various financial transactions to capitalize on the growing Indian aviation sector with the objective of achieving substantial growth in revenues .Following a successful stint with Investec Bank, he joined Deccan, India’s first low cost airline as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in February 2007. In June 2007 following Deccan’s tie up with The UB Group owned Kingfisher Airlines which has created the largest airline combine in Indian aviation, he was appointed officiating CEO of Deccan.

Justin Symonds is Managing Director and Global Head of Transport & Logistics Sector Advisory for Royal Bank of Scotland.

Justin has 18 years experience working in the Transport sector as a strategic adviser and investment banker. His in-depth expertise and experience covers all aspects of the ports and shipping industry as well as in related surface and inter-modal sectors, for example rail freight. He also covers the logistics, mass transit and aviation sectors.

Justin provides strategic advice in these sectors on acquisitions, mergers, capital restructuring and access to equity capital markets (e.g. Initial Public Offerings). His experience is global having worked on projects in all continents and on several major cross-border transactions.

Prior to joining Royal Bank of Scotland, Justin worked as a transport banker at Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. His experience as a specialist transport banker is also drawn from having worked in the air transport industry as an adviser with the leading consulting firm Simat, Helleisen & Eichner. He was educated at Oxford University, where he graduated in 1987 with an honours degree in Modern History and holds a Masters Degree in Air Transport Management from Cranfield College of Aeronautics. Justin is also a qualified pilot.

Rick has more than 30 years experience in tourism destination marketing. His current role is to boost aviation activity in Western Australia by encouraging more domestic and international airlines to fly into and within Western Australia. Rick is currently on the PATA Board of Directors and chaired the Destination Australia Marketing Alliance between all Australian State Tourism Organisations and Tourism Australia, which is delivering a more stream-lined approach to Australia’s international tourism marketing.

Avelino L. Zapanta is a product of two top educational institutions in the Philippines, the University of the Philippines where he finished his four-year basic college course and the Ateneo de Manila University where he completed his MBA. These educational qualifications carried him through 42 years of involvement in the air travel industry, 38 of which were devoted to Philippine Airlines (PAL). The only president of PAL who rose from the ranks, Zapanta was called upon in 1999 to lead the resurrection of the airline from closure. The Asian contagion of 1997 and the subsequent crippling industrial actions of PAL’s labor unions resulted in its closing down in October 1998 only to be revived at prodding of government due to the paralyzing impact on the economy of the airline’s closure. Promoted from the position of Senior Vice President for Sales & Services, Zapanta as President was tasked to lead the airline back to health and profitability. First, he won the PAL workforce into accepting a 10-year moratorium on collective bargaining and industrial actions in a three-month of continuing dialogue that resulted in investors’ confidence in the airline. The rest is history. From year one PAL created the miracle of being able to turn around on the very first year of its 10-year rehabilitation coming from nine years of continuing losses by the billions of pesos each year. This was achieved primarily through an exemplary labor-management teamwork and competence in the industry they have nurtured for almost 60 years. After almost six years of industrial peace and profitability, Zapanta retired from Philippine Airlines to write a book on Airline Management which is now being widely used in almost all aeronautical schools and educational establishments with travel and tourism courses in the country. He is a part time professorial lecturer at the University of the Philippines and the Philippine State College of Aeronautics while serving as President and CEO of SEAIR which sought his services in December 2006.