Aviation Intelligence Reporter – March 2020
Alas Poor Air Italy, We (Barely) Knew It, Horatio
Once More unto the Breach Dear Friends, Once More
The Coronavirus and Climate Change: Compare and Contrast
The ECA Does Not Agree That Atypical is Typically Professional Now
Airport Charges: Numbers are Digits, So Part of Digital Agenda
Airframers Engage in a War in a Galaxy Far, Far Away
Aviation and How to Not Make (Air) Waves at the World Radio Conference
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Alas Poor Air Italy, We (Barely) Knew It, Horatio
Last year, you may remember, global aviation industry was facing what can only be called a major crisis. The situation was so dire, so life threatening, that the big three US airlines decided that they needed to bring in the bully-in-chief, President Trump himself, to save them from an existential threat so awesome, so huge, so unprecedented one can hardly say its name. The Voldermort of aviation: Air Italy. Last year, if you believe the big three US carriers, the industry was on the edge of the precipice. This year it took a giant step forward. Air Italy has gone bankrupt. So that was the Jabberwocky seen off the premises then. The jaws that bite, the claws that catch: gone.
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Once More unto the Breach Dear Friends, Once More
When Henry V rouses his troops to go, once again, against the French troops at Harfleur, he motivates them by noting that in times of peace nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility. But, when the blasts of war blow in your ears… The rest is history, or at least the Shakespeare historical cycle. History is written by the winners, so the occasional more-inspiring-than-actually-delivered-on-the-day speech can be expected. But it is harder when the war you want to fight is yet to blast, when the world itself is set on modest stillness and humility. There are not so many great and inspiring speeches written for when you start the fight. Which is a real pity, because just wars can be wars of attempting to change, or challenge, the status quo, just as much as they can be one attempting to right an injustice.
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The Coronavirus and Climate Change: Compare and Contrast
Joseph Stalin once observed that 2,000 deaths is a tragedy; 2,000,000 deaths is a statistic. We tend to focus much more on the tragedy than the statistics. Perhaps it is that we think, or at least hope, that we can make a difference in the face of a tragedy. When the outcome is most likely going to be a statistic, we seem to abandon hope, or certainly hope that we can act together to effect change. Nowhere is that better shown than in global response to the coronavirus, and the contrast that presents to the response to climate change.
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The ECA Does Not Agree That Atypical is Typically Professional Now
Our very dear friends at Europe’s most honestly named trade association, the European Cockpit Association – not a word of a lie there – is at it again. The ECA modus operandi is to put out a dense, long, report which reaches conclusions that can be interpreted in whatever way you want, and then put out a press release that interprets it in exactly the way they want. They then fan out around Europe, telling everyone that their view is exactly what the study shows. The brilliance in this approach is that the studies are long and dense on purpose. Banking on human laziness, they dare anyone to read them. At the Aviation Intelligence Reporter we accept that challenge, so you do not have to.
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Airport Charges: Numbers are Digits, So Part of Digital Agenda
One of the rules for success in Brussels is to tie your issue to the current topic de jour. Only if you can connect to a priority agenda item do you have a chance to get the attention required to get things done. Once, the key to the kingdom was jobs and growth. That used to be an easy door to walk through. Who votes against jobs and growth? The green agenda, as a matter of fact, so watch your framing.
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Airframers Engage in a War in a Galaxy Far, Far Away
The future of aviation, we are so often told, is in Asia. Breathing that in during this medically-induced downturn was more comforting for Singapore Airshow attendees who visited the Israel Aerospace Industries stand, which handed out face masks in a bag declaring ‘I Beat Coronavirus in Singapore Airshow 2020.’ That they then looked like Darth Vader was perhaps a less intentional side effect. But that was not the only Star Wars tone. Airbus debuted its futuristic Maveric concept. The blended wing body was officially unveiled in Singapore, but the 2m x 3m remote-control demonstrator flew in Toulouse last June, like the Death Star, avoiding the radar.
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Aviation and How to Not Make (Air) Waves at the World Radio Conference
Once every four or so years (it can vary a bit, depending on finding a host with a big enough conference hall), the world’s spectrum experts gather to allocate bands of spectrum for particular uses. This is an international meeting; it allocates bands to particular uses. It is then up to each national administration to designate users of each band. That makes perfect sense for things like mobile telephony spectrum. We can all agree that all over the world, phones should work on certain spectrum bands, but which phone company gets what is a question for the national administration. But for things like spectrum to be used for aviation safety, there is less for a national administration to do, apart from policing interference. The World Radio Conference allocation becomes, in effect, binding law.