The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced that the 11th World Cargo Symposium (WCS) will be held in Abu Dhabi between 14 and 16 March 2017.
The announcement was made by IATA global head of cargo, Glyn Hughes, at the closing of the 10th WCS in Berlin, which was held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Berlin between 15 and 17 March. The 2017 event will be sponsored by Etihad Airways and will be held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.
At a media round table event following the Berlin closing ceremony, Hughes explained to journalists, including Air Cargo Week the logic of choosing a location, which includes an accessible location, a good venue and a supportive local airline. Hughes says: “We need a vertical conference venue where we can book a significant number of rooms, a significant bar space … we need to make sure it has a big space and good food. We try to rotate around the globe and we have to look at accessibility.”
He says IATA learnt from the first WCS in Mexico City that it needs to be in a venue which can hold significant numbers of people. He told the journalists that at the Mexico City event the venue and hotel were quite a distance from each other, which meant attendees were stuck on coaches driving across the city for much longer than they wanted to.
It is estimated about 1,100 people attended the WCS in Berlin and Hughes told the journalists that if the event has over 1,000 attendees, it counts as a success.
