Aviation Intelligence Reporter October 2022
Slaves to International Comity
We Can Only Get to 2050 by Going Through 2025
Slaves to the Existing Business Model
Eurocontrol Gets Out the Crystal Ball
Airport Competition: UK Regulators Say Yes
Much Binding in the Cargo Marsh
Déjà Vu, Again, for the Not Very Single, Single European Sky
To read the full report please login first.
Do you want to become a member?
Common Rates; Uncommon Fury
Further proof that the world was righting itself came last month with the publication by EASA of the European Aviation Environmental Report for 2022. It mainly updates the 2019 report, and there are few surprises. As we come out of the pandemic all the savings we are making with new equipment and new procedures – and new fuels, to the minimal extent we use them – are being swallowed up by growth. What to do?
Are We the Baddies?
At one level, it looks like a David v Goliath sort of affair. The combined strength of the mighty airline industry and their all-conquering marketing departments and budgets on the one hand, and a ragtag bunch of pesky millennials on the other, with limited resources. The airlines have convinced travellers for more than 100 years that they should visit exotic locations, see their family and do business face-to-face. Lakmè will forever be the sound of BA; Peter Allan the sound of Qantas. It sounds like a terrible mismatch. Mind you, you would have got good odds betting on David the first time. Now, it seems he might be worth a cheeky punt again. At least each-way.
A Rising Tide of Nat-SLOT-ism in Europe
To Brussels, where the hottest topic this season is slots. Again. Only, this time, we are talking slots as a tool of nationalism. It would be too easy to look at the elections in Sweden and in Italy and assume that national carriers are going to become more national. That is to give a free pass to all the other states of Europe. Yes, for the record, it is already clear that the new Italian extreme right-wing government will do what it can to stop the sale of ITA Airlines to a consortium that includes Delta and Air France/KLM. They will then, of course, step into the market to ensure that their airline is protected. That could take a number of forms short of (even more) public funds being poured into the world’s largest blackhole. But who would be crazy enough to write that option off?
The Dutch Go Dutch on Emissions
So far off Broadway that it would be better to call it Narrowway, word has started to seep out about a bold new plan the government of The Netherlands is proposing to curb aviation emissions. How far off Broadway? At the Association for European Transport’s European Transport Conference event in Milan in early September. That far off Broadway. This conference is for transport economists, and frankly, only for transport economists. But what an Aladdin’s cave of treasures there were to listen to, and to debate. It might be geek heaven, but these are our geeks. Or at least, they should be. There was no shortage of intellectual firepower on hand.
Aviators Assemble!
In the Marvel Superheros series, Falcon, the eyes and ears of the Avengers, calls the gang together when he sees wrongs to be righted, injustices to be made just and evil to be thwarted. ‘Avengers, assemble!’ he cries. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, the Black Widow and Hawkeye gather as soon as possible. In Montreal, the President of ICAO, following the terms of the Chicago Convention calls aviators (ok, aviation regulators) and begs that they heed the call to assemble in Montreal at the ICAO General Assembly. Visas can be issued if required. The question of wrongs to right, injustices to resolve and evil to thwart is never in doubt. The aviation world is in permanent need of the righting of wrongs. A little bit like the Avengers really.
Planning a Holiday for 2030
Remember holidays? Remember the work that goes into planning one? The back and forth between the entire family on destination, what to do once there, where to stay and the best ways to get there? You might be pleased to know that the European Council can feel you on this point. It is doing the same thing as it tries to put the finishing touches on the European Tourism Strategy for 2030. It has, like all good holiday plans, gone through several iterations and is now getting to the point of finalisation. We have been covering its progress and it is good to be getting to this point. Nonetheless, it is interesting to see what issues continue to be discussed.