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OA founder steps down
October 1st 2013
As our headline says on our 20th anniversary special report: What a story. Read More »
For the past two decades, Orient Aviation has been living, as much as any airline or airport, the success story of the Asia-Pacific aviation industry. It has been a long and exciting running story that we have covered, warts and all.
As International Air Transport Association (IATA) director general and CEO, Tony Tyler, said in his exclusive piece for this issue: “The establishment of Orient Aviation in 1993 was a confirmation of one of the most remarkable developments in aviation – the expansion of commercial aviation across Asia”.
And it just kept on expanding, driven by the juggernaut that is China. The region has had its crises – the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, 9/11, the Iraq War, SARS, the global financial crisis of 2007-08 – but it has invariably proved remarkably resilient, bouncing back from adversity faster that anywhere in the world.
All the forecasts point to an even greater future for the Asia-Pacific in the next 20 years. Back in 2011, the then IATA director general, Giovanni Bisignani, recognized that the Asia-Pacific was poised to be the aviation industry’s global leader. “Rapidly developing markets are shifting the industry’s centre of gravity to the East,” he said.
And Orient Aviation, hopefully, will be there for another two decades, its finger on the pulse, to report the region’s continuing aviation developments to the world.
Alas, but not me. Having founded the magazine and having had two amazingly loyal lieutenants working alongside me for almost all of that time, publisher and editor-in-chief, Christine McGee, and chief correspondent, Tom Ballantyne, I have decided to step down. The 20-year milestone is no coincidence.
I have met many incredibly talented people in the aviation industry in that time. In the early days of the magazine, CEOs such as Thai Airways International chief, Chatrachai Bunya-Ananta and Cathay Pacific’s managing director, Rod Eddington, were hugely supportive. It has been a privilege to have known them all. I feel we, at Orient Aviation, have been a part of history and along the way have shared in the successes and disappointments of the aviation industry in the region.
I say thank you to the entire Orient Aviation team and to everyone who has helped and supported us along the way. I ask that you continue to support Christine and the magazine in the years ahead.
