August 23, 2006 – AS the northern holiday season winds to a close, IFE/communications professionals are beginning to scan the calendar for autumn events that will help them stay ahead of a fast-moving game.

Next month’s WAEA show in Miami and the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) event in Orlando are already inked into many diaries. Two more occasions well worth considering are November’s IATA Inflight Management Summit in Geneva and the World Travel Market show in London.

This year’s World Travel Market, to be held at the Docklands ExCeL centre on November 6-9, will for the second year host the Travel Technology Awards, highlighting the new digital developments that have had the most impact over the past year. “This year the awards will reflect the huge explosion in online and mobile services and heighten awareness of the benefits they bring,” says Graham McKenzie, chief executive of sponsor TravelMole.

Awards categories this year include one for innovations in mobile technology. Nominations will begin early next month and the winners will be announced at WTM on November 8.

This year’s edition of the annual International Air Transport Association Inflight Management Summit will be held on November 8-10 November at the IATA Conference Centre in Geneva. Focusing on inflight service, with the aim of improving safety, cabin crew management, catering and customer service, the Summit will this year include a session on the issues likely to be raised by the imminent introduction of onboard cellphone services. Earlier this year IATA issued a preliminary guidance paper on the subject for its airline membership.

Other sessions will address safety (topics to include turbulence, slide deployment, and threat and error management), health (bird flu, reduced-mobility passengers) on-board sales control, and RFID for trolley tracking.