On the 16th of November, Gediminas Žiemelis, Chairman of the Board of Avia Solutions Group, shared his experience and insights at Kazimieras Simonavičius University. He presented his thoughts as a guest speaker of the second event of the series of talks on aviation industry Aviation in the Making.

Gediminas Žiemelis (Avia Solutions Group photo)

While presenting his topic “Is Open European Airspace Really Open? The Benefits for Countries in Having National Carrier” Žiemelis shared his thoughts on the behind the scenes of aviation industry. He was explaining processes, which according to him are not included into official handbooks, official reports prepared by governmental institutions or universities and are performed “under the table“, as he told himself.

The main idea of his presentation was that Open Airspace is an idea, which is merely related to reality. Žiemelis claimed that “In spite of many agreements on Open Space which were signed by US and most of the EU countries at the beginning of this millennium, there still exist some fundamental restrictions of transatlantic competition and investments in aviation.”

Žiemelis also explained how Governments find ways to subsidize national carriers indirectly. “EU has officially recognized 13 airline companies as being given illegal financial aid by the governments. Directly or indirectly subsidizing, governments try to maintain the national carriers, which face strong competition from the biggest European airlines” told Gediminas Žiemelis. According to him restrictions to subsidize national carriers and International Air Transport Association (IATA) requirements should ensure equal opportunities to everybody, but the real situation is different.

Gediminas Žiemelis is a world–renowned businessman. He works in the field of Aviation and is the Chairman of the Board at Avia Solutions Group. He also manages several large companies in the aviation, pharmaceutical and real estate industries. In 2016, Mr. Žiemelis was acknowledged for his visionary business management and development skills by the prestigious European Business Award jury comprised of EU leaders in the fields of economics, education, business and politics.

Aviation in the Making is an informal space where aviation leaders, professionals and students meet. The series of talks on aviation industry is organized by Kazimieras Simonavičius University, the only University in the region with Aviation Management study programme and the company Friendly Avia Support.