On Dec. 19, 2017, an International Conference has been organized by Aerospace MBA & Career Booster, TBS Executive Education in Toulouse Business School main building facilities.
Two guest speakers have been invited to share their views about the “Importance of Aviation in the Future Globalized World“. Prof. Victor F. S. Sit provided a Chinese perspective whereas Christopher Buckley embraced the Airbus approach.
The first talk first introduced the “Belt-Road initiative”-the new globalization drive of China, and pointed out its major purposes in terms of countries covered, targeted economic sectors and the means to be used to achieve them. The keys to all these lie with physical and metaphysical connectivity between nations. Of the major means of physical connectivity, civil aviation will play an important role. The talk then focused on the Chinese vision in developing an Aviation Silk Road and how this will impact on the aviation industry and airport development worldwide. Toulouse has been used as one of examples to illustrate this new globalization trend and its potential multiplier effect on the surrounding “Occitanie” region.
The second talk highlighted from an OEM perspective how the globalization is already impacting the aviation world. Beyond the current trends that are reshaping the industry and the whole supply chain, this allocution provided insights regarding the Chinese market and the “Belt-Road Initiative”.
A Q&A session followed the conference, enabling the audience to interact and debate questions with the eminent speakers.
A cocktail, kindly sponsored by Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, has been offered to the participants.
About the speakers
Mr. Victor Sit
Professor Sit obtained his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom. He is currently advisor of China Aircraft Leasing Limited and senior advisor of China Airport Synergy Investment Limited. He also serves as member of the Supervisory Board of Toulouse Blagnac Airport.
He has been a founding director of the Advanced Institute for Contemporary China Studies of Hong Kong Baptist University, Honorary Professor of renowned Chinese universities including Peking University, Zhongshan University, Jinan University and Xian Jiaotung University.
He was professor and head of the Department of Geography, University of Hong Kong from 1977 to 1998.
Mr. Christopher Buckley
Christopher Buckley joined Airbus in 1992 as Regional Sales Director, and became Vice President of Sales, Europe in 1997. He was promoted to Senior Vice President in 2002. In January 2006, he became Executive Vice President with responsibility for all of Airbus’s business in Europe, Asia and the Pacific.
Following further reorganisations at Airbus, Buckley is currently responsible for Airbus’ overall business and customer relations in Europe, Africa and the Pacific, along with certain countries in Asia and the Middle East. He leads and manages five regional Business Units. He is also responsible for Airbus Asset Management worldwide.
Prior to joining Airbus, Buckley worked for seven years at de Havilland Canada in Toronto (now part of Bombardier). After various positions, he led de Havilland’s commercial team in North America, with responsibility for marketing and sales of the Dash 8 family of aircraft.
He holds both British and Canadian nationalities.
