Most airline passengers interact with an alliance before they realise one exists. The lounge access waiting at the other end of a long-haul flight. The frequent-flyer miles earned on a carrier they have never flown before. The ability to check baggage in London and collect it in Sydney despite travelling on multiple airlines with different owners, different liveries and different national identities. Today these experiences feel routine. In the late 1990s they represented one of the most ambitious experiments the aviation industry had ever attempted.

For years, the aviation industry’s centre of gravity has been slowly moving east. At this year’s IATA Annual General Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, that shift felt less like a prediction and more like a reality. While much of the discussion around Europe focused on regulation, taxation and competitiveness, the conversation around North Asia centred on growth, digital transformation and the emergence of China as a force that is increasingly shaping the future direction of global aviation. According to IATA’s Regional Vice President for North Asia, Xie Xingquan, the region’s story is no longer simply about recovery. It is about scale, influence and transformation.