Aviation Intelligence Reporter August 2022
The Bumper Summer Reading Edition
Mad Dogs and Air Show Men Go Out in the Midday Sun
Gee Whizz: The Pilots Play the Safety Card
Russia: ICAO Council Stumbles at First Hurdle
Slot Litigation Comes to Europe
ERA: Low Fares = Low Competition + Bad Tourism
Titus Airlineicus
SAF, SAF Everywhere, But Not a Drop to Drink
Travel Chaos: The Only Thing Working is the Finger-Pointing
The Aviation Advocacy Annual Crossword 014
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Mad Dogs and Air Show Men Go Out in the Midday Sun
Air shows know only two speeds: blistering heat or teeming rain. There are no alternative climatic conditions. This year, the Farnborough air show choose blistering heat, or, more accurately, the blistering heat chose it. Records were broken. Some were records to do with the heat, some to do with those saying that a bit of heat hurts nobody. A third category, comments that maybe this was a metaphor, were drowned out by the requirement that every stand, every presentation, every sentence use the word ‘sustainability’. It is hard to know how sustainability will sustain this abuse.
Gee Whizz: The Pilots Play the Safety Card
You may recall when Norwegian tried to get authority to fly to the US pursuant to the EU-US Open Skies agreement, the US pilots’ union did everything it could to block it. They tried to argue that Norway was not in the EU – correctly, but nonetheless incorrectly, in that it was entitled to access the Open Skies agreements as part of the EEA – and then it tried to argue, oh well… whatever argument it could think of to stop Norwegian introducing different pay scales. Remarkably, the pay being offered to US pilots was better than that on offer from US airlines, but thin-edge-of-wedge, something, not the same commitment to training, something, something… Safety!
Russia: ICAO Council Stumbles at First Hurdle
Can ICAO influence Russia? The ICAO Council is effete, yet sometimes its actions bear fruit. Witness the decision to proceed with an action initiated by Qatar on overflight over the objections of Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE, or the US backing down from a challenge from Cuba on overflight. With the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has gone so far down the path of illegality that it stretches the imagination that ICAO can have any effect. But that is no reason for it not to act.
Slot Litigation Comes to Europe
There has been slot litigation in Europe before. The famous Jersey against KLM and BA for example, which established that monetary slot transactions were not excluded by the IATA Worldwide Slot Guidelines – as long as the formalities were complied with. There have been cases concerning the transfer of slots as a result of bankruptcy, such as in the case of Monarch, but a full on, full throated dispute that reaches back to transfers in 2013? Normally, you have to look to the US for that sort of entertainment. But the US airline lawyers have gone on the road. They are currently entertaining us in the EU Court of Justice. What a summer treat American Airlines vs The Commission promises to be. And, this being justice, it will run and run, moving at its own speed; as it does.
ERA: Low Fares = Low Competition + Bad Tourism
Was it the heat in the UK that forced this brain fade? Are the offices of ERA not well ventilated? Maybe the senior staff had gone on leave and the interns were in charge? There must be some logical reason for what must be the most entertaining press release of the year, coming out in late July. Read this and be amazed. Low fares are harming competition. Stop the presses! We have been getting it wrong. Higher fares must be good for competition.
Titus Airlineicus
Act 1
Highly regarded General Titus Airlineicus returns from a long and arduous fight against sworn enemies of Rome, the Pandemicia Covidius tribe. He has brought a hostage – the daughter of the pandemic, the beautiful Unpent Demandx. He offers her to the Supreme Emperor, Iatarex as a prize. But the Emperor’s betrothed, Betterbuildex is not accepting this lying down. She enlists her brother Airlinus Europa Quattor to see what can be done to undermine this plan.
SAF, SAF Everywhere, But Not a Drop to Drink
There is a concept in linguistics called ‘semantic satiation’. You know semantic satiation. It is when you say a word over and over so many times that the word loses its meaning. You say ‘hedgerow’ enough times and it might as well be the word ‘framus’. Two of the worst modern drivers of this concept are politics and social media. Some of the most pivotal and vital terms affecting modern populations, regions, and the world are repeated and misused to the point where they no longer have the weight and meaning they once did or should have. One such term hanging on by a thread is ‘sustainability’. As one side repeats the dirge of planet-wide collapse, the other dismisses it so wholeheartedly that it begins to feel like a droning clickbait that many refuse to engage with any longer.
Travel Chaos: The Only Thing Working is the Finger-Pointing
No matter where you are in the world, you are currently being treated to a world class display of finger pointing and blame shifting. Truth, when it comes out, tends to not capture the headlines the way that a bit of old-fashioned bitching does so it gets less coverage or airtime. But, ask yourself, which bit of the industry is responsible for the chaos we see before us? It resembles civil war, where it is very hard to know who is fighting whom and to what end. Here is your cut-out-and-keep guide to who to blame and what to say when doing so.
The Aviation Advocacy Annual Crossword 014
