Linhas Aereas de Mozambique today became the 25th carrier to register for this year's Routes Africa event when their CEO Ms Marlene Mendes Manave confirmed that she will be in attendance in the Seychelles next month.

Other high level airline delegates in attendance this year will include Mr Gebremaraim Tewolde, Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, Mr Cramer Ball, Chief Executive Officer of Air Seychelles who both registered earlier this year to take part in the Routes Africa Strategy Forum.

The event, which will take place on July 8-10 hosted by the Seychelles Tourism Board in partnership with the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority supported by the Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA), AFRAA (African Airlines Association) and ACI Africa, will see more route development professionals in attendance than any previous Routes Africa event.

Airlines represented at the event include Etihad, Qatar Airways, Mango, Kenya Airways, Comair, Iberia and, more recently, Turkish Airlines Cargo, Air Mauritius and Vueling (who are looking to meet with West African Airports who wish to develop routes into Spain).

Routes Africa is now in its seventh year and the 2012 event will be the largest event to date. Last week Untied Airlines also confirmed their attendance which marks, not only their first Routes Africa event but also the first time that a North American carrier will attend the networking forum for the African region.

Speaking at the time the hosting agreement was signed, Elsia Grandcourt CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board said: "The team at the Tourism Board and the Civil Aviation Authority is fully committed and they are convinced that this highly important conference comes at an opportune time when Seychelles is repositioning itself as being accessible as never before and pushing to establishing new air access opportunities to the destination."

David Stroud, Executive Vice President, Airports for UBM Aviation Routes recently confirmed that preparations for this event are going well commenting: "We currently have more airlines and airports represented than at any previous Routes Africa event and a number of highly respected keynote speakers are confirmed to speak at the Strategy Forum on the afternoon of Sunday July 8th which will provide an impactful opening to the event. We are very much looking forward to what promises to be the biggest Routes Africa event in history!"

Contributed by UBM Aviation