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Potential: In the US, there are three aircraft seats per year for each of the 300 million people who live there. China's population of 1.3 billion is served by only 0.3 seats per person and India's 1.1 billion population has only 0.1 seats available per person. "The global air transport industry will triple in size when Asians travel as much as those in the US," said Bisignani.

"Asia-Pacific's diversity, dynamism and potential are a great opportunity. Rapidly developing markets are defining aviation's future. Is Asia-Pacific prepared for the challenges that this will bring?" said Bisignani. In his opening address, Bisignani highlighted three global issues for Asia-Pacific leadership:

Environment: The global aviation industry presented the UNFCCC Climate Change talks in Copenhagenwith three targets shared by airlines, airports, air navigation service providers and manufacturers. These are: improving fuel efficiency by an average of 1.5% per year to 2020, stabilizing emissions with carbon-neutral growth from 2020and cutting our emissions in half by 2050 compared to 2005. These targets are backed by a clear strategy based on technology investment, effective operations, efficient infrastructure and economic measures.

"Even without a binding agreement in Copenhagen aviation is united and committed to its targets. The ICAO Assembly in September-October is an opportunity to build government consensus leading to COP-16 in Mexico," said Bisignani.

The challenges for Asia include: working through ICAO to accommodate the diverse needs of the region, taking advantage of the tremendous business opportunities in developing sustainable second generation biofuels. Biofuels have the potential to reduce aviation's carbon footprint by up to 80%. "Five airlines have successfully tested biofuels and we expect certification within 2011at the latest. Aviation biofuel is a US$100 billion plus business opportunity. And I hope that this region will play a key role in its early development," said Bisignani.

Security: "We live in a global world-global connectivity and global threats. Governments and industry must protect the connectivity and eliminate the threats. That challenge requires industry and governments to work together for effective and efficient security measures," said Bisignani.

"Ten days ago, I saw some hope for a new collaborative approach when the Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security consulted the airline industry in our Genevaoffices," said Bisignani. IATA presented recommendations to work together, align requirements with the industry's capability to implement, make passenger collection more efficient, ensure that governments coordinate their requirements across borders and look to develop a new approach to checkpoint screening that combines technology and intelligence so that we look for bad people, not just bad objects.