Miami – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that this year's Wings of Change Americas (WOCA) Conference will be taking place on 25-26 June at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Bogotá, Colombia, with avianca as the host airline.
The aviation industry's premier event in Latin America and the Caribbean is being held under the theme "The Connectivity Frontier: Exploring New Opportunities in the Region". The agenda highlights the critical importance of collaboration between the aviation industry and governmental bodies, with a specific focus on enhancing regional connectivity and competitiveness. Specific topics include travel and tourism, technology and innovation, operations, sustainability and distribution.
Frederico Pedreira, CEO & President, avianca, and Peter Cerdá, Regional Vice President for the Americas, IATA, will be speaking at the event together with many of the region's top airline CEOs:
- Roberto Alvo – CEO, LATAM Airlines Group
- Pedro Heilbron – CEO, Copa Airlines
- Estuardo Ortiz – CEO, JetSMART Airlines
- Adrian Neuhauser – CEO, Abra Group
- Erika Zarante Bahamón – CEO, LATAM Airlines Colombia
Reflecting the conference's objective to create solutions across the aviation value chain, the speaker lineup also includes cross-section of industry stakeholders, including:
- Arturo Barreira – President, Airbus Latin America and the Caribbean
- Natalia Bayona – Executive Director, UN Tourism
- Ricardo Bernardi – Partner, Bernardi & Schnapp
- Carolina Betancourt – SAF Project Manager, BioD S.A
- Rafael Echevarne – Director General, ACI-LAC
- Natalí Leal – General Manager, OPAIN
- Victoria Platt – Vice President, Airline Strategy & Transformation, SITA
- Roberto Roselli – CEO, Plus Ultra
- Harris Whitbeck – Minister of Tourism, Republic of Guatemala
The aviation industry is a key contributor to economic and social development across Latin America and the Caribbean. The sector supports more than 8.3 million jobs and generates an economic contribution of some USD 240 billion in GDP (2023). Estimates show that these figures are set to nearly double by 2043 to 15 million supported jobs and USD 500 billion in GDP contribution.
Bogotá was selected as the venue given the growing importance of the Colombian aviation market. In 2023, the air transport value chain contributed USD 15.5 billion or 4.3% to Colombia's GDP and supported some 921,000 jobs.
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