(INDIANAPOLIS) – A major aviation conference is coming to Indy next year.

The three-day Routes Americas conference is a networking event for airline and airport executives from around the world to discuss potential new flights. The 2019 conference in Quebec City next month will match up representatives of 80 airlines with 300 airports.

Indy’s been trying to expand its international service. Its first nonstop transatlantic route, to Paris, began just eight months ago. But Garrett Baguley with Routes organizer UBM says the airport has great potential for expansion, while the city’s convention expertise leaves itwell equipped to accommodate meetings with 800 aviation-industry representatives.

Governor Holcomb says he wants to make Indianapolis International Airport the Midwest’s hub for international travel. He and airport director Mario Rodriguez say the annual conference is a chance to make the airport’s case directly — but with what both call a home-field advantage. The airport has regularly topped passenger surveys on the best airports in North America, but Holcomb says there’s a difference between reading those polls and seeing the airport in person.

Indianapolis International Airport (Photo: Eric Berman/WIBC)