Company to Promote Shanghai Symposium

GCW Consulting announced that Boeing will be a major sponsor of the Inaugural Shanghai International Aviation Symposium, to be held April 28-30, 2004 in Shanghai. The symposium will be held at The Portman Ritz-Carlton in Shanghai. Under its sponsorship agreement with the symposium, Boeing will showcase the 717 program's operational successes to symposium attendees, who will include some of the aviation industry's best-known executives.

With an informal format that includes high audience participation, the Shanghai International Aviation Symposium is a forum for industry leaders to discuss the important issues of the changing aviation world in the setting of one of the airline industry's most important growth markets today -- the People's Republic of China. Also present will be a presenter from Boeing's 7E7 program, educating attendees on the benefits associated with Boeing's new super-efficient long-range model.

"Boeing is confident that the Inaugural Shanghai International Aviation Symposium will serve as a valuable way to reach not only China's aviation leadership, but global aviation leaders as well," said Pat McKenna, director of Boeing's 717 program. "The People's Republic of China, as the world's fastest growing aviation market today, is an ideal environment for airline operators to realize the tremendous operating efficiencies of the rugged Boeing 717."

In its most recent Current Market Outlook (CMO), Boeing forecast a requirement in China for nearly 2,400 new jet airplanes worth $197 billion over the next 20 years, two thirds of them single aisle aircraft like the Boeing 717. Another 22 percent will be intermediate-size, twin-aisle airplanes, and just four percent will be 747-size and larger.

The Shanghai Symposium is being organized by aviation consulting firm GCW Consulting and the CAAC Eastern Region, which is the governmental authority for airlines and airports in Eastern China and the Yangtze River Delta region of the People's Republic of China.

Among the topics to be discussed at the symposium are: "The Importance of a Proper Fleet Mix," "Low-Fare Airlines: Fad or Fact? In China?" and "Are Network Carriers Becoming Dinosaurs in an Era of Mass Travel?"

FMI: www.shanghaisymposium.com