Routes Talks Speakers
Mike St Laurent
Vice President, Consulting, ASM
Mike brings over 30 years of airline experience to ASM. He had a long career at Air Canada where he was responsible for the planning and launch of many successful new routes, holding senior roles in network planning, strategy, fleet planning, scheduling and revenue management. He joined ASM in 2014.
Specialisms: Network planning, scheduling, route analysis, fleet planning, traffic/revenue forecasting, strategy, revenue management
Participating Talks and Sessions
Jeremy Pennington
Director, Air Service Development, VANTAGE Airport Group
Jeremy Pennington joined Vanatge Airport group in 2015 and is responsible for the delivery of passenger growth targets across the company’s global network of nine airports.
Prior to Vantage, Jeremy was with Heathrow Airport Ltd., where he held multiple senior management positions within the commercial portfolio, including airline business development, non-aeronautical revenues and property management. In June 2014, he was an integral part of the delivery and transition of Star Alliance into Heathrow’s new Terminal 2.
Jeremy is experienced in route development, revenue generation and contract management. He holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School and a Bachelor of Arts in Politcal Science and International Relations from the University of British Columbia.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Lee Lipton
Director, Network & Schedule Planning, WestJet
Lee Lipton is the Director of Network and Schedule Planning at WestJet. He leads the team that is building the route network and flight schedule for Canada’s low cost carrier with a fleet of more than 150 aircraft operating 650 daily flights and carrying more than 20 million annual guests. The airline serves more than one hundred cities in the Americas, UK, and Europe including its Encore regional operation and new widebody transatlantic service.
Lee’s airline network planning and scheduling experience also includes Southwest Airlines and Aer Lingus where he led teams responsible for flight scheduling, route planning, and network strategy. He has specialized in working with economic development, tourism agencies, and government officials to help communities
Prior to joining WestJet, Lee lead the development of passenger and cargo traffic at the Vantage Airport Group.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Lukas Johnson
SVP, Commercial, Allegiant Air
Lukas Johnson joined Allegiant as part of the Revenue Management team in 2010. He assumed his current role of Senior Vice President, Commercial in January of 2017 and is responsible for pricing and revenue management, ancillary revenues, network planning, scheduling, charters and e-commerce. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Northwestern University.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Nigel Mayes
Senior Vice President and Product Development, ASM
Nigel brings 20 years industry experience, starting his career as a key part of the route development team at Birmingham International Airport where he had a variety of roles in airport marketing, strategy and aviation business development, before joining ASM in 2001.
Following a successful consulting career Nigel went on to be responsible for all the commercial aspects of Routes including customer engagement, airport and airline attendance, revenues and conference content. During his time with Routes, Nigel had also been responsible for the development of the Routes online productwww.routesonline.com
Nigel re-joined ASM in 2014 SVP Consulting and Product Development where he is responsible for supporting our work across the client base and taking ASM’s new products and services to market.
During his time at ASM, Nigel has worked on route development, traffic forecasting and airport transaction projects across the globe. Nigel has been responsible for the delivery of a number of new routes and has worked on airport projects that include Taoyuan International Airport, San Juan International Airport, Darwin Airport, London Stansted, Katowice Airport, Malaysia Airports, Perth Airport, Rzeszow Airport and Sikhuphe Airport.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Dr. Lorraine Nicholas
Tourism Specialist, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Commission (OECS Commission)
Dr. Lorraine Nicholas is a Tourism Specialist, employed at the OECS Commission, headquartered on the island of Saint Lucia. For the past ten years, Lorraine has enjoyed a combination of research and technical experience in the tourism field. In 2003, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue a Doctorate in Tourism at the University of Florida, where she graduated with a 4.0 GPA. She also holds a Master’s degree with distinction; and a Bachelor’s degree with First Class Honors in Tourism Management from the University of the West Indies. Facilitation of ease of intra-travel is arguably the most critical aspects of the Tourism work programme of the OECS Commission and one of Dr. Nicholas’ most recent achievements in this regard, is the development of an Air Service Agreement that seeks to liberalize air transportation in the Eastern Caribbean region. Dr. Nicholas also represents the OECS on the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s Aviation Task Force which seeks to address the air transportation issues in the wider Caribbean region.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Hugh Aitken
Commercial Director, Skyscanner
Hugh heads is a Commercial Director at Skyscanner within its B2B division. Hugh heads up the team that develops strategic partnerships and takes to market a range of unique analytical tools to provide partners with a holistic insight into travel demand and trends. Before joining Skyscanner, Hugh spent four years at EasyJet, where he looked after the commercial performance and market strategy for the airline across London, Scotland the North East of England, as well as the Middle East and Iceland. Prior to that Hugh spent 13 years at UK airport operator, BAA, where he held a number of senior commercial and business development roles.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Faical Allou
Skyscanner Analytics, Business Development Manager
Faical began his career in 2004 in Spain and fell in love with the aviation business. After working for Air France and Royal Air Maroc, he joined a Lufthansa Consulting, where he lead consulting engagements in the areas of strategy, network planning, revenue management, make or buy decisions and cost Analysis. During his consulting years, Faical also founded a start-up airline in Africa and spoke at various conferences. He currently is in charge of the analytics products at Skyscanner and delivers insights and practices from the Internet ecosystem to the airline industry.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Omar Hashmi
Consultant, ASM
Omar spent six years at a Middle Eastern carrier focusing on network development, business strategy, corporate planning and airline operational efficiency before joining ASM in 2013. He has also worked for Lufthansa Consulting, Deutsche Bank and the UK Government. Omar provides in-depth market analysis for clients and offers a unique stance on the aviation industry.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Lars Pottgiesser
Head of Business Development, The Americas, IATA
Lars Pottgiesser is IATA’s Head of Business Development for the Americas region, the trade association whose 269 member airlines transport more than 84% of total air traffic. Lars works with IATA’s ten local offices spread out in the Americas region from Canada to Chile, to proactively pursue IATA’s industry priorities with governmental authorities and industry stakeholders to make the air transport industry safer, more secure, efficient and profitable. Over the past decade, Lars has worked in a variety of functions at IATA in the areas of data intelligence, passenger services, market research and is responsible for the execution of IATA’s Aviation Days and Wings of Change Conferences in the Americas. Prior to joining IATA, Lars worked for one of the leading Public Affairs firms in the Southeastern United States with a special focus on crisis communication and strategy development.
Fluent in English and German, and conversational in Spanish, Lars was born in Germany and received his Master’s Degree in International Business from the University of Tampa in Florida and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri while competing as a collegiate soccer player.