The entire aviation Europe will come to Łódź!

21.04.2023

The Routes Europe 2023 Forum will be held in Łódź from May 9 to 11. It is the largest annual meeting of the aviation industry in Europe. Over a thousand will take part delegates - representatives of airlines, airports and tourist regions.

So far, 255 airline representatives representing 88 carriers such as Lufthansa, British Airways, KLM, Air France, SAS, EasyJet, Wizz Air and Ryanair have announced their arrival in Łódź. The organizers still claim that there has not been such a large commitment from carriers for a long time.

Even though this is a European event, delegates will also come from outside Europe, including: representatives of American Airlines and Delta as well as Air Canada and WestJet from Canada; Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines and Pegasus Airlines; carriers from Africa: Nouvelair Tunisie and Ethiopian Airlines. Asia will be represented by Air India and AirAsia. There will also be representatives of the national carrier from the United Arab Emirates - Etihad Airways.

Over 400 airport representatives have also registered so far, but the list is not yet closed. The number of all registered participants is already approaching one thousand, and six hotels in the center of Łódź are already fully booked by delegates.

“There are few events of this importance in Poland. The Routes Europe Forum is an event that Łódź and the airport are organizing for the first and last time. Never in the history of the event has a city hosted it twice. We want to promote Poland and Łódź, located in the very center of the country. Decision-makers will come, they will hear from us about the economic potential here, and they will get to know the city. Apart from the industry part of meetings, talks and discussion panels, there is another very important element, i.e. the "cultural and entertainment" part. Our guests will see that Łódź is a perfect city for a city break and it is worth bringing tourists here. In other cities that hosted the Routes Europe Forum, traffic increased and new connections were opened. We very much hope that this will also be the case here," says Dr. Anna Midera, president of the Łódź Airport.

The conference part of Forum Routes Europe 2023 will take place for three days in the Expo Hall at al. Polytechnics. There, airlines will meet with airport representatives and talk about new destinations, conferences and discussion panels will be held. During the panels, delegates will discuss, among others: about forecasts for the European aviation market; competition of low-cost airlines in Europe; development of long-haul flights with narrow-body aircraft.

Two official evening events are also organized as part of the Forum. The first evening of the "Welcome Reception" is intended for the grand opening of Routes Europe, promotion of the host city and the event's partners and sponsors. The event will take place in the ballroom of the Andel's Hotel.

The Forum guests will spend the second evening meeting at the revitalized EC1 power plant. There, the organizer of the Forum - the British company Informa - will present industry awards to airports, airlines and tourist organizations that have had a significant impact on the development of aviation in Europe in the last year. All delegates will be able to participate in optional trips prepared by the airport together with the Łódź Tourist Organization. They will visit the most beautiful places in Łódź and the region, including: Piotrkowska Street, Orientarium, Monopolis, Księży Młyn.

The Routes Europe Forum has been held 15 times so far in cities such as Sofia, Porto, Prague, Toulouse, Cagliari, Talin, Budapest, Marseille, Aberden, Belfast, Bilbao, Hannover and Bergen. Poland hosted Routes Europe delegates twice: in 2006 in Warsaw and in 2016 in Krakow. Łódź applied and was selected before the pandemic. The Routes Europe forum was supposed to take place in Łódź in 2021, but the coronavirus caused the calendar of industry events to be postponed by two years.

The organizer of the Forum is the British company Informa, based in London, listed on the local stock exchange, which organizes events around the world and publishes industry publications. The formula of the event is similar to the organization of, for example, the European Football Championship - in this case the organizer is UEFA, and the country that applied and was chosen to act as the host of the event.