That Was The Week That Was 11-15 July
Bastille Day Alert! Person the Barricades!
Last week we talked about jesters having to jest, so perhaps this week, the week that was, we should be talking about how we can take the disputes that the industry has to almost operatic levels. Oh yes, this week, the week that was, we saw the curtain go up on those natural born adversaries – airports and airlines, or more accurately, the airport association and the airline association – picking up on the spirit of Bastille Day and bursting into song. A wonderful thing. Is there a heart that does not want to burst into song when thinking about slots?
This is a dispute that runs since time immemorial. There are rumours that IATA and ACI first locked horns at the battle of Troy. It was a fight about gate access. Since then, down the annals of history, the dispute has taken many other forms and on many battlefields. And, just as in Troy, just as in many of the other moments when the airlines have demanded what they consider their right, and airports push back, the bards, the poets and the troubadours have been there to record and retell the story.
For any story of this life and death fight, a struggle of an industry determined not to be suppressed again, we need a hero, someone prepared to rally the troops, bring the people on-side and most of all to rush to the barricades, to fight what they perceive of evil, and rail against unfairness. Step forward Olivier Jankovic, the DG of ACI Europe.
This week, the week that was, we had theatre in spades. Look at this exchange on Bastille Day eve. If this is a fight about one part of the industry trying to bring its misery onto other parts, it is only right that we look at Les Misérables for inspiration. We cross now to a theatre near you, in your hand, on your phone – Twitter – just in time to hear the rousing end of act one…
Chorus Do you hear the airports sing? Singing a song of an angry industry? It is the music of a part of an ecosystem That will not be slot-bound again! When the beating of your heart Echoes the beating of the available capacity There is a life about to start When tomorrow comes! Jankovic Will you join the ACI crusade? Who will be strong and stand with us? Beyond the barricade Is there a world you long to see? Then join in the fight That will give you the right to have more say in what capacity should be! Chorus Do you hear the airports sing? Singing a song of an angry industry? It is the music of a part of an ecosystem That will not be slot-bound again! When the beating of your heart Echoes the beating of the available capacity There is a life about to start When tomorrow comes! Jankovic Will you give all the slots you can give and still deliver service So that the ACI banner may advance? Some will fall and some will impose further capacity cuts in real time Will you stand up and take your chance? The blood of the martyrs Will water the meadows of France and all of Europe and even some bits beyond! Chorus Do you hear the airports sing? Singing a song of an angry industry? It is the music of a part of an ecosystem That will not be slot-bound again! When the beating of your heart Echoes the beating of the available capacity There is a life about to start When tomorrow comes!