Toshiyuki Onuma, president of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council, will open IATA’s Wings of Change Europe (WOCE) in Brussels on October 15, 2026. The conference will bring aviation industry representatives, governments and global institutions together for a discussion focused on the direction of European air transport, according to IATA’s announcement.
A European aviation debate with competitiveness at its centre
IATA presents WOCE as a European aviation policy conference intended to contribute to a regulatory agenda for an efficient and competitive sector. Thomas Reynaert, IATA’s senior vice president for external affairs, said the meeting should help industry, governments and international institutions address the competitiveness of European air transport.
The focus therefore extends beyond a single airline, airport or commercial announcement. The published programme is expected to address the difficult geopolitical landscape, Europe’s economic outlook and the value of aviation to the continent. Competitiveness and the Draghi report, two years after its publication, are also listed among the discussion points.
That combination places the event within a broader policy discussion about how European aviation should operate and compete. The conference itself will not immediately alter a passenger’s booking, route or travel conditions, but the positions discussed there may be relevant to the regulatory choices affecting airlines and airports.
Passenger rights, airport legislation and safety are included
WOCE’s agenda also covers the European Union’s next priorities, passenger rights, airport legislation and safety. These subjects connect policy decisions with the practical framework for air travel: they influence the rules under which carriers operate, the airports supporting their networks and the protections passengers encounter during a journey.
The announcement names Filip Cornelis, Jean-Luc Crucke, Tamar Ioseliani, Magda Kopczynska, Eddy Liégeois and Dominik Piotrowski among the current speakers. The list includes representation from the European Commission, Belgium’s government and Georgia’s government.
The industry and aviation roster includes Selahattin Bilgen of Istanbul Grand Airport, Peter Gerber of Condor, Florian Guillermet of EASA, Samer Majali of Royal Jordanian, Pieter van Oord of Royal Schiphol Group and Wouter Roels of FedEx. Their participation gives the programme input from airports, airlines, an aviation safety agency and an air-freight operator, while the published speaker list remains a record of participation rather than a guarantee of any particular policy outcome.
The conference follows two days on sustainability
WOCE will take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton Brussels City Hotel. IATA’s World Sustainability Symposium is scheduled at the same hotel on October 13 and 14, immediately before the policy conference. The sequence places WOCE after two days dedicated to sustainability discussions, although the Wings of Change Europe programme has its own wider focus on regulation, competitiveness, passenger rights and safety.
IATA says it represents more than 370 airlines, accounting for about 85% of global air traffic. That stated reach helps explain the organisation’s role in the European aviation debate and the interest in a conference that brings industry, governments and international institutions into the same policy conversation.
For passengers, the immediate confirmed development is the event itself and the participation of ICAO Council president Toshiyuki Onuma. The practical significance of the meeting will depend on the regulatory priorities and positions that emerge from the discussions on October 15. Until then, WOCE is best understood as a forum for setting the policy agenda, not as an announcement of an immediate change to air travel.
Official sources
Primary source: Official source: iata.org