Guangzhou goes global: World Routes host targets international connectivity growth

Wesley Charnock January 24, 2018

This week World Routes 2018 host Guangzhou has been taking part in the Davos World Economic Forum, launching its year-long drive to open the city to the world.

The city’s initiative, dubbed ‘2018: Global conversations between Guangzhou and the world’, aims to usher in a new era of foreign investment and collaboration.

Guangzhou expects economic growth of 7.5 percent in 2018, following a significant rise in the total volume of imports and exports by 13 percent last year.

A key part of this global connectivity strategy is hosting World Routes 2018 which Sun Xiuqing, chairman of Guangzhou Aerotropolis Development District, highlighted to the WEF conference.

"World Routes is the only truly global event in the civil aviation industry calendar in which the most senior decision makers from the world's airlines, airports, governments and tourism authorities participate," said Sun.

By hosting the conference Guangzhou is aiming to build on the remarkable growth in connectivity achieved in recent years.

Schedule data from OAG shows that total international seats are on course to top ten million for the first time in 2018, more than three times larger than the 3.3 million seats flown a decade earlier.

New carriers to start services in recent years include Scoot, Thai Lion and Malindo, while Finnair’s Helsinki-Vantaa service launched in 2016 is now entering its third year of service.