As the largest Routes Asia event to date draws to a close in Chengdu, Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (CDIA) have officially handed over to Mumbai, the official host destination of Routes Asia 2013.

Building on the success of this year's event the largest route development forum for the entire Asia region will take place on March 17-19, 2013 in Mumbai hosted by Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd, GVK managed, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA).

CSIA is a standing participant of the Route Development Forums (World & Asia). With a total of 44 international airlines, and 7 domestic passenger airlines currently operating more than 687 flights a day while directly linking Mumbai to 83 airports in India and worldwide, CSIA offers unmatched connectivity.

This coupled with CSIA's handling efficiency over the last five years and the extremely challenging environment it operates in has made it one of the most important emerging aviation hubs in India and the Asia Pacific Region.

This status will be further enhanced upon the completion of the new state-of-the-art integrated passenger terminal T2 which will coincide with the hosting of Routes Asia 2013 opening later in the same year. The choice of CSIA as a host airport also helps to reinforce its position as India's foremost airport at the cutting edge of comfort, technology and design.

Speaking at the 10th Routes Asia event which took place in Chengdu 15-17 April 2012, Mr. Rajeev Jain, CEO of Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Limited (MIAL) said: "We are delighted to host the next Routes Asia in Mumbai. Routes is an ideal networking platform for global airline partners for exploring unique business opportunities. CSIA, over the years has emerged as one of the busiest airports in South Asia while recording a stupendous growth in passenger traffic and facilities. We are thus very excited and are gearing ourselves in hosting and welcoming the Routes delegates in Mumbai, the gateway and financial & commercial hub of India. We look forward to showcasing the development of our New Integrated Terminal T2 to all delegates during this event. "

"After an incredibly successful event here in China it is fantastic that we able to bring Routes Asia to India once again," explained David Stroud, Executive Vice President Airports, Routes. Stroud continued: "We have worked with the GVK team for many years at our events and are expecting record numbers to attend the event in Mumbai as Routes Asia goes from strength to strength."

Contributed by UBM Aviation