ŁÓDŹ will be the host city of the largest European aviation forum, Routes Europe 2023. Next year, about 1,200 delegates, including representatives of over 90 airlines, airports, as well as cities, regions and tourist organizations from all over Europe, will come to Łódź. The city received the title and statuette of the next host of Routes Europe during the air forum in Bergen, Norway.

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The Routes Europe Forum in Bergen was planned for the spring of 2020, and then Łódź was to take over the organization of the event. The pandemic moved the calendar two years. The first European meeting of the aviation industry after the break caused by the coronavirus has been held in 2022, and Łódź will host delegates next year edition. During the three-day event in Bergen, representatives of airports have met with airlines and representatives of tourist regions as well as cities officials and regional authorities.

The airport in Łódź has prepared a stand referring to industrial architecture and ecology mixed together. It was respect for the environment that was the leitmotif of the stands at Forum Routes Europe in Bergen, because Norway, with its unspoiled nature, cares about saving the climate and respecting the environment.

On the last day of the Forum, the title of the next year host and a special statuette were handed over to the city of Łódź. Gautes S. Riise, a representative of Avinor, the owner of airports in Norway, handed over the duties of the host of the next event and the statuette to Dr. Anna Midera, president of Łódź Airport.

The ceremony of handing over the organization of Routes Europe was held in the "Promised Land" 19th century convention. The speech by the president of the airport referred to the novel by Władysław Reymont (the patron of the airport in Łódź) and the film by Andrzej Wajda from 1975. The president Anna Midera and the Łódź airport team, as well as Tomasz Karolewski, the president of the Łódź Tourism Organization, appeared in authentic costumes from the film "Promised Land"

During the handover lunch delegates tried dishes of Polish cuisine, incl. dumplings, potato pancakes, sour soup, sausage with onion and cucumber salad called by delegates "Polish tzatziki".

Routes Europe Forum has been taking place since 2006. In Poland, the event was held twice - in Warsaw and Krakow. Routes Europe 2023 in Łódź will be held on May 9-11, 2023.

Source and photos: Łódzka Organizacja Turystyczna