Asian Aerospace 09 opened in technicolour today in the time-honoured tradition of an eye dotting ceremony – that symbolises bringing the lions to life.  The nine brightly coloured lions then performed a hip hop dance to showcase East meets West in front of a VIP line up of Hong Kong government officials and Consul Generals including The Hon. John Tsang, Financial Secretary of HKSAR, Mr Zhang Xiangmu, Director General; from the Ministry of Industrial and Information Technology of PRC and Mr Jin Zhuanglong, General Manager, COMAC, whose company’s C919 airliner model makes its international debut here this week.

Reed Exhibitions Chairman, Mike Rusbridge, highlighted Asian Aerospace is truly unique as a Business-to-Business commercial aviation show which combines an exhibition (this year supported by 356 companies from 28 countries), with six integrated industry conferences.  These include the three day AA Congress, Aircraft Interiors Strategy Forum; APATS 2009; Asian Business Aviation Summit (new for 2009); Air Freight Asia 2009 and Inside Air Finance.

Some 10,000 delegates will visit Asian Aerospace this week Rushbridge said, together with some 1,200 business delegates from official and commercial delegations from China and Asia Pacific countries.   At the opening ceremony today at the ultra modern Asia-World Expo he emphasised the relevance of Hong Kong as its venue and the important business relationships and networking that will be forged between East and West here. 

The Hon John Tsang echoed that Hong Kong was the right place for this show.  After 12 months of fluctuating fuel prices, falling ticket prices and a drop in profits in the air transport industry economies are preparing for take off again, he opined.   “Hong Kong is a Mecca for business with its low taxes and open market.”  He added that Hong Kong International Airport is the busiest airport in the world for cargo and one of the busiest for passengers - embracing 150 destinations and 40 mainland cities. 

“Asian Aerospace offers a terrific opportunity for networking for operators, manufacturers, service providers and airlines – the right people, the right place and definitely the right time,” he concluded.

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