More than 800 executives from airlines, airports, and tourism companiesaround the world gather in Girona for CONNECT 2025
Event | CONNECT 21st Route Development Forum |
---|---|
Organiser | The Airport Agency |
Event Date | 03.02.2025 |
Press Release Date | 03.02.2025 |
-
The 21st meeting of this international aviation congress goes on until Wednesday 5th February, and aims to build global networks and connect destinations
-
The event, organized with the support of the Diputació de Girona, the Generalitatde Catalunya and the Girona Chamber of Commerce, and features an extensive programme of conferences, round tables, seminars and information sessionsconcerning the sector
From today until Wednesday 5th February, Girona will host representatives from a large part of the aviation industry at CONNECT 2025. More than 800 executives from airlines, airports and tourism companies have confirmed their attendance at the 21st meeting of this prestigious international aviation congress, which is centered on the Palau de Fires.
The Diputació de Girona, the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Girona Chamber of Commerce are supporting this event, which is promoted and organized by CONNECT Aviation. Its main objective is to build global networks and connect destinations, within the framework of a sector that stands out for its resilience and constant evolution, especially following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For three days, CONNECT 2025 will bring together key figures from the aviation industry todiscuss current and future issues in the sector through a wide and varied programme, which includes face-to-face meetings, keynote lectures, seminars and round tables, confirming it as an unmissable international annual event. In total, representatives from 88 airlines and 189 airports have registered.
The activity kicked off this morning with the official inauguration, which was attended by the President of the Parliament of Catalonia, Josep Rull; the Minister of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Sílvia Paneque; the President of the Diputació de Girona, Miquel Noguer; the President of the Girona Chamber of Commerce, Jaume Fàbrega, and the CEO of CONNECT Aviation, Karin Butot.
After the inaugural speeches, the dignitaries toured the different congress stands, spread throughout the Palau de Fires. Later, the round table The Case for Girona took place, which explored the attractiveness of this destination, highlighting the opportunities it offers for airlines, the tourism industries and the economy of the territory.
Moderated by the President of the Girona Tourism Board, Jaume Dulsat, participants in the roundtable included the Deputy and first Vice-President of the Costa Brava Girona Tourism Board of the Diputació de Girona, Jordi Masquef; the Executive Director of the Catalan Tourism Agency of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Patrick Torrent; the General Director of Aeroports de Catalunya, Jordi Candela, and the Dean of the Faculty of Tourism of the University of Girona, Lluís Coromina.
The Strategic Board of Girona Airport
At the end of 2023, the Diputació de Girona, the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Girona Chamber of Commerce established the Girona–Costa Brava Airport Strategic Board with the purpose of designing and coordinating territorial policies, promoting strategies, developing territorial competencies and adding complementary assets that impact on this key infrastructure of the territory.
The Strategic Board works towards deseasonalization using a qualitative approach. Apart from thinking in terms of tourism, this also takes into account the productive fabric and the mobility of people who live and work in the region of Girona.
Passenger data collected in 2024 confirms the quality of this work to revitalize the Vilobíd’Onyar terminal. The terminal accommodated very nearly two million passengers(1,997,571), missing this number by less than 2,500 individuals, andrepresenting an increase of 26% compared to the previous year (2023). These numbers have not been achieved since before the pandemic and they show a satisfactory development, especially in the middle and low seasons.
In this regard, CONNECT 2025 represents a great opportunity for Girona–Costa Brava Airport to connect with more destinations and continue to grow the number of international passengers and flight frequencies. Starting this year, it will connect with forty-eight cities in fifteen European countries, with the latest additions being the destinations Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Lublin (Poland), Ostrava (Czech Republic), Luton (London, United Kingdom) and Budapest (Hungary).
Coinciding with the congress, the brand “GROwing” was unveiled, which the Airport Strategic Board is using to promote Girona–CostaBrava Airport to airlines around the world. The name responds to the idea o fpromoting the city and territory of Girona. The aim, taking advantage of this meeting space, is to promote the idea of flying to Catalonia using Girona Airport.
The congress and the territory
Beyond the activity that is developed during the three days of the congress, CONNECT 2025 will also generate an economic impact on the city of Girona and throughout the region. In fact, during this past weekend, participants were able to enjoy the tourist, cultural and heritage attractions of the territory, through various excursions that allowed them to take city tours of Girona; visit Figueres and medieval towns; play golf; or try the local volcanic cuisine.
The event will bring together airlines, airports, tourism organizations and industry suppliers so that they can exchange synergies and share their interests regarding routes and tourism offerings. A dense programme has been planned, with three morning and afternoon sessions, which will cover everything from the challenges of sustainability in aviation to the future of low-cost operators, among others.
On Tuesday evening (8 p.m.), the congress dinner will take place at the Espai Mas Marroch, in Vilablareix, with institutional representatives, organizers and participants of the event attending. It will include a performance by the Marrecs de Saltcastellers team (human towers).
The full detailed schedule for CONNECT 2025 can be found on the official website CONNECT Route Development Forum | CONNECTAviation.
Contact
4 Rue Claude Chappe
Parc de Crecy
St Didier au Monts d’Or
France
69370
- +33 (0) 4 72 59 20 80