As I’m sure you all know, our annual Payload Asia Awards & Conference 2015 successfully concluded in mid-October. A very big thank you to all of the readers who took the time to nominate and vote on the awards and also to the industry judging panel – we appreciate it very much and we’re quite sure the winners feel even more so, judging from their comments.

Th e Awards programme has truly come into its own now, as witnessed by the breadth and depth of entries this year, stretching around the globe from the heart of Asia to Africa, North America and Europe. Th e capacity crowd at the annual Gala dinner for the past three years also tells us we’re on the right track and again this year it was a memorable night of celebrating the industry’s fi nest with wining, dining, camaraderie and networking.

And in recognition of the celebrations that night, we’ve dedicated this issue to covering the awards with snippets from the winners on what the signifi cance is to them, photos from the evening and of course a full list of those companies that took home the top prize. Th is extra coverage necessitated pulling out the normal Gateways and other special focus sections, but you can still fi nd those stories individually online at www.payloadasia.com.

Th is year was also very gratifying on the Payload Asia Conference side which saw our erstwhile one day event, expanded to two full days. Again a very big thank you to all the speakers, moderators and special guests, along with the audience which altogether made it a very successful and informative two days. I think it is safe to say that this will remain a twoday event and we look forward to bringing you more interesting topics and industry panelists in future installments.

Th is special edition of Payload Asia, will also begin coverage of the conference sessions, beginning with this November issue – delayed by a couple of weeks with our apologies in order to give full coverage of the Awards and Conference – and will continue into the next December/ January issue. While we had wanted to give you everything in one tidy package, space constraints along with the desire to provide full, in-depth coverage of each of the conference sessions meant we had little choice but to spill over the conference material into the next issue as well. Th is issue’s conference coverage will focus on ‘Multi-modal threats and opportunities’ along with the popular ‘E-commerce redefi ning the world’ sessions which I think you will agree provide some very interesting food for thought.

In addition to this special edition coverage we’ve got our annual Americas supplement along with news from the Middle East where Qatar Cargo – now the third largest cargo carrier in the world behind Emirates and FedEx – has announced a raft of expansion plans from new products to cargo terminal expansion(s) and freighter fl eet growth.

Emirates too has offi cially opened their new cargo terminal – Emirates SkyCentral – at the new DWC airport and has similarly detailed its plans for expanded facilities as it continues it growth track, aiming to uplift 12 million tonnes of cargo by 2050.

And closer to home, we have coverage of the annual Association of Asia Pacifi c Airlines (AAPA) annual Assembly of Presidents meeting held recently in Bali, Indonesia.

All in all, quite a package for your reading pleasure and we do hope you enjoy! One last but certainly not least thank you must be said to all our generous sponsors for their support, without which we simply wouldn’t be able to bring you the annual Payload event. We look forward to seeing familiar and new faces at next year’s Payload Asia Awards & Conference 2016 event which for the fi rst time will be held in Hong Kong. See you there!