Aviation Intelligence Reporter – July 2018
The Infrastructure Tour: Industry AGMs Put the Band Back Together
The IATA AGM: The Great Infrastructure Tour – Act 1
The CANSO AGM: The Great Infrastructure Tour – Intermission
The ACI AGM: The Great Infrastructure Tour – Act 2
Controller Training and Public Health
CORSIA: Going Off Course, But Industry Will Monitor It All the Way
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The Infrastructure Tour: Industry AGMs Put the Band Back Together
June is aviation industry annual general meeting month. The big three industry associations, IATA, the ACI and CANSO run their AGMs back-to-back in a bruising test of stamina and solidarity. Once, the DGs of the three organisations agreed, Musketeer-like, to attend all three. That promise lasted about two years. Now, we are back to days of all for one – all three made it to Sydney for the IATA AGM – but none for all.
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The IATA AGM: The Great Infrastructure Tour – Act 1
Once a year, IATA publishes a press release announcing the start of its AGM. Or, to use IATA’s time-honoured wording, we are breathlessly told that ‘the capital of air transportation’ will move to INSERT CITY NAME HERE. Every year the capital of air transportation cuts and pastes itself to a new city, without ever answering the big question: where is the capital of air transportation for the other 51 weeks of the year? This year, for one week only, the capital of air transportation was Sydney, or again to use IATA’s words, ‘Sydney, Australia’. Not, for example, Sydney, Nova Scotia.
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The CANSO AGM: The Great Infrastructure Tour – Intermission
The next week saw CANSO convene its AGM in Bangkok. It was a private affair. It is clear from the press release that data was discussed. That puts CANSO in good company. TS Eliot once discussed data too. Where is the wisdom we lost with knowledge, he asked. Where is the knowledge we lost with information? Data is a largely new area for ANSPs. If the airframe is onto its seventh generation, ATM is only now entering its third. How data transforms ATM appears to be in the fourth generation.
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The ACI AGM: The Great Infrastructure Tour – Act 2
After the trip down memory lane in Bangkok, reflecting on when data was the new black, the band came roaring back onto stage in Brussels. The new, new black is infrastructure and how to fund it, which may explain why CANSO and its members chose not to discuss the topic. Sovereignty and all that… Out came the airports for their set. This was as much art as music. The event started with a reception at the Musée des Beaux Art. A fine venue; with an aviation connection. Amongst its masterpieces is The fall of Icarus, by Bruegel, about which WH Auden wrote his poem, The Musée des Beaux Art.
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Controller Training and Public Health
In Brussels, parliamentary questions are political statements, loosely disguised as riddles. Recently, an MEP tenuously suggested that the privatisation of training for air traffic controllers in Spain is having an effect on public health. According to the Spanish air traffic controllers’ union, USCA, potential air traffic controllers have to pay up to €75,000 for their training. This, in their view, has led to a sharp reduction in the number of students applying to be controllers. A shortage is looming, apparently. At the same time, it was reported that some Spanish airports are suspending or placing strict limits on flights involving urgent medical assistance that require air traffic control outside usual office hours. As a result, some urgent medical flights may be suspended.
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CORSIA: Going Off Course, But Industry Will Monitor It All the Way
Delegates to the IATA AGM were each presented with an egg timer. It was a stark reminder that with just six months remaining until CORSIA requires airlines to start reporting their emissions, time is running out. Since then, there has been movement.
If you are a glass-half-full kind of person, it was all good and to-be-welcomed movement. Monitoring and implementation procedures were agreed at the ICAO Council in late June. These are a fundamental part of making CORSIA work. The industry will need to refill its supply of gush soon, so gushing was its reaction to the news. As the egg timer prop showed, this is important to IATA. But, if you are a glass-half-empty type, less so. At the ICAO Council meeting, despite agreeing the tools and mechanisms for the scheme, the States weakened what constitutes ‘sustainable’ fuel. That category now includes petroleum-based fuels. You cannot make this up.
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