.: Life is a journey, travel it well :.: The World Air Transport Forum is being held in Paris this year

After 16 years in the south of France, the World Air Transport Forum is coming to Paris to mark the 17th time this major industry event has taken place. An audience of over 300 airline and aviation specialists is expected to attend this independent high-level executive event
As 2008 enters its final few months the 17th World Air Transport Forum will provide an ideal staging post to review with some of the industry's top executives how much the industry has changed this year, and to analyse how much it could possibly change again in 2009.

Billed as one of the industry's largest independent air transport conferences, WAF this year is being held in the French capital Paris. For the first 16 years of its life, WAF founder Jean-Louis Baroux, who is also the president of airline services group APG Global Associates, organised the event in Cannes in the south of France.
One of the main events of WAF is the Air Transport Debate, moderated by event chairman and former IATA director general Pierre Jeanniot. This will feature the forthright views of former American Airlines head Bob Crandall James Hogan, the chief executive of Etihad Airways Mohamad El Hout, director general of Middle East Airlines Naresh Goyal, chairman of Jet Airways and Lionel Guerin, president of Airlinair/Transavia.com.
With mergers, acquisitions and consolidation top of the agenda for several carriers, the ability of any player to compete freely in the markets of their choice is of critical importance. To this end the topic of industry liberalisation will be debated by former US Department of Transportation official Jeffrey Shane, Association of Latin American Airlines head Alex de Gunten and Driss Benhima, the chief executive of Royal Air Maroc. This will be preceded by a keynote presentation from Virgin Atlantic Airways chief executive Steve Ridgway.
Airports are strongly represented at the event with major presentations by Paul Griffiths, the chief executive of Dubai Airports, and Angela Gittens, the new director general of the Airports Council International.
The topic of rail travel, and how air and rail could collaborate more closely in the future, will be addressed by Guillaume Pepy, the president of French national rail company SNCF and Air-France-KLM chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta.