IATA symposium in Bangkok focuses on future of airline retailing

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Sandrine Le Borgne Senior Vice President Corporate Services & CFO | International Air Transport Association - IATA

By Sky Industry News

Oct 4, 2024

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is gearing up for its joint World Financial Symposium (WFS) and World Passenger Symposium (WPS), set to take place in Bangkok. The event aims to address key industry topics, including airline retailing, finance, facilitation, accessibility, and passenger experience.

Muhammad Albakri, IATA’s Senior Vice President for Financial Settlement and Distribution Services, emphasized the potential for enhancing customer satisfaction through digitalization. "By aligning on how the industry addresses new opportunities for airline retailing, finance, facilitation, accessibility, and passenger experience, we have enormous potential to make our customers even more satisfied with their travel experience," he stated.

Nick Careen, IATA’s Senior Vice President for Operations, Safety and Security, highlighted the significance of this year's symposium. “There are several highlights for this year’s joint WFS and WPS. We will discuss what passengers are telling us about their travel experience and preferences in the latest Global Passenger Survey (GPS). We will also explore what a truly digital, seamless, inclusive, and accessible customer-centric travel experience will look like in an integrated journey proof of concept that will demonstrate the progress made over the last year,” he said.

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Chai Eamsiri from THAI noted Thailand's role as a prominent aviation hub: “THAI is exploring strategies to continuously and sustainably strengthen Bangkok as a leading global aviation hub. In hosting IATA’s WFS-WPS, we participate in showcasing the travel industry and its many positive impacts and potentials."

The event features four session tracks focusing on various aspects such as passenger experience and accessibility; transforming airline retailing; payment and finance; and artificial intelligence in finance. Notable speakers include Marie Owens Thomsen from IATA; Charlotte Lim from Cathay Pacific Airways; Siddharth Sharma from Digi Yatra Foundation; Tamur Goudarzi Pour from Lufthansa Group; Amit Khandelwal from Emirates; Satya Ramaswamy from Air India; Michael Doersam from Emirates; Christine Rovelli from Finnair; Mohamad Hafidz Mohd Fadzil from AirAsia Super App.; Stanislav Bondarenko from Swifty; and Craig Jeffery from Strategic Treasurer.