Aviation Intelligence Reporter August 2025
- The Bumper Summer Reading Edition
- All Roads Lead to the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan
- STIP! In the Name of Love
- The Carry-On About Baggage
- Things are Rotten in the State of Germany
- J-P Sartre Investigates: The Existential Mystery of the Missing SAF
- Digital ID documentation – More of a Roller-Coast Than a Glide
- Alliances: They Were the Future, Once
- The Aviation Intelligence Reporter Annual Crossword 017
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All Roads Lead to the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan
As Europeans make their way to the beach, or perhaps up into the mountains, for a well-earnt break, remember, it is always good to take a compass with you. Then, you can be sure to make your way back to the fray, refreshed and relaxed, and ready to focus on what is to come. This year, the only compass you need is the Competitiveness Compass, the Commission’s blueprint for returning Europe to its rightful place as a thrusting, competitive hothouse of growth and innovation. The waypoints your competitiveness compass will direct your return to the fray via are to close the innovation gap, to reduce dependencies and to decarbonise the economy. These were the goals set out in the Draghi Report.
STIP! In the Name of Love
As sung by Ben Smith at the STIP Implementation Dialogue. Apologies to the Supremes
STIP! In the name of love Of a level playing field
Baby, baby We’re aware of where you go Each time you leave our CEOs’ door We watch you walk down the street Knowing your other love you’ll meet But this time think competitiveness Don’t think about the emission score
(Think it over) Level that playing field (Think it over) Level that playing field
The Carry-On About Baggage
Few things are as divisive as baggage policy. According to Herodotus, when Xerxes the Great travelled, his personal entourage was headed up by 1,000 horsemen, then 1,000 spear carriers, followed by ten sacred horses, a holy chariot, a charioteer and finally, Xerxes himself. We all know that if he marched them down an aerobridge and into first class for any long-haul flight, every last one of them would be discreetly dealt with, put in a safe place and Xerxes shown to his seat. It is also fair to say that if he had lined the entourage up for a Ryanair flight, he would have needed the Imperial Treasurer’s credit card. When it comes to baggage policy, what you can carry depends on where you sit.
Things are Rotten in the State of Germany
Europe’s aviation landscape is undergoing a seismic shift. The old order, where a handful of mega-hubs dominated passenger numbers, has given way to a far more distributed model, propelled by leisure demand and low-cost carriers. Nowhere is this realignment more vivid than in Germany, where once-dominant airports have ceded ground even as burgeoning secondary and regional gateways press on. Take Frankfurt and Munich, Germany’s twin pillars of air travel. In 2019, Frankfurt welcomed roughly 70.6 million passengers; by 2024, that had fallen to 61.6 million, a decline of 12.7%. Munich fared even worse, dropping from 47.9 million to 41.6 million, a 13.3% retreat. These figures stand in stark contrast to Madrid (up 7.2%), Rome (up 13.0%) and Istanbul’s meteoric 54.6% rise, where domestic carriers and low-cost entrants have fuelled robust growth. What is happening in Germany, then, reflects a local blip, but is it also a broader pivot away from hub‐and‐spoke orthodoxy of old?
J-P Sartre Investigates: The Existential Mystery of the Missing SAF
Chapter 5
This was quickly turning into an existentialist’s dream. Someone, let’s say an existential detective, needed to find some money. So far, so good. But not just any money – hell, there were three lovely cheques sitting in my desk drawer right now – but particular money. Money that did not yet exist. I needed to find that exact money because the SAF was hiding behind this money. But, I reminded myself, there was no money yet. That was nothing if not consistent. There was no money, but then again, there was no SAF either. In other words, I needed to find non-existent money which was obscuring the location of non-existent SAF. What could be simpler than that?
Digital ID documentation – More of a Roller-Coast Than a Glide
The 43rd ICAO Assembly takes place in late September. One of the shoo-ins for decision will be approval for ICAO and its partners to accelerate the implementation and harmonisation of digital aviation passenger identification programmes worldwide. ICAO, via its Traveller Identification Programme and Digital Credential Travel strategies, and IATA, via its One ID initiative, have spent the last few years developing technologies and procedures to give passengers the opportunity to stroll through all parts of an airport simply by waving at appropriate sensors a smart phone equipped with an app which has a digital passport, biometric ID data, ticket, check-in and shopping preferences.
Alliances: They Were the Future, Once
Remember alliances? Once upon a time, they were going to save us from the Chicago Convention. They were to be a means to allow airlines to form cross-border groupings that would mimic acquisitions to the point of laughing in the face of the ownership and control restrictions. From alliances would come common branding; armies of frequent flyers loyal to more than one airline; seamless connections and, at long last, the arrival of large, international airlines. O tempora! o mores!
