The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has decided to postpone the 2020 World Cargo Symposium set to happen in Istanbul, Turkey due to coronavirus concerns.
The March 10-12 event has become the largest annual event that brings together key stakeholders from the entire air cargo supply chain joined by over 1,000 attendees and more than 40 exhibitors.
The symposium was set for next week and included plenary sessions, specialised tracks, workshops and executive summits, covering cargo operations, innovation, safety, sustainability and emerging growth areas of the industry such as pharma and e-commerce.
IATA acknowledged that although there are no postponed the event no reported cases of Covid-19 in Turkey, it had taken the decision to postpone due to cancellations related to the disease which is starting to spread in Europe and the US, after Asia.
“Over the past few days, we have been receiving enquiries about the status of the upcoming 14th World Cargo Symposium (WCS) in Istanbul due to the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19). Although there have been no reported cases in Turkey, we have taken the decision to postpone the event,” IATA said in its statement.
“Since the first outbreak of COVID-19 in mainland China, we have been monitoring the situation in Istanbul closely, working daily with local and international authorities ... however, there has been an increase in the number of participant cancellations over the past few days for reasons including company travel bans and senior delegates needing to stay close to base during the crisis, therefore, we feel that it would be best to postpone the event,” it added.
IATA said it has been following WHO’s guidelines and added that further information will follow in the coming days regarding delegate, sponsor and exhibitor situations and consequential actions that need to be taken.
“We are very sorry that this decision had to be taken but we are sure you will all agree it was the correct one and for the right reasons,” IATA said.
IATA has yet to release other details except saying in a separate email that the official dates and location for the 14th edition will be sent in the next couple days.
