That Was The Week That Was 23-27 November
Let all new leaders shout, that these are testing times…
‘Testing’ is the word of the week in aviation. Do not expect a place at the table if you cannot pronounce forcibly on testing. You need not understand testing, you need not know your PCR from your PCL, or your anti-gen from your elbow, but you must use the word ‘testing’ at least once a paragraph. ‘Test’ is also acceptable.
So out of the blocks on Monday, tested up to the eyeballs, came the ACI, proud to tell us that they have teamed up with Bureau Veritas to produce an Airport Health Measures Audit programme, based on SafeguardsTM standards. You have to admit, that sounds very impressive. The TM bit in particular makes you feel like saluting. Delta and BA were next, intensifying their call for testing. Within minutes, sadly, Delta got cold feet – if only there was a TM test for that! – once they realised that a flight to London, with our without a test on departure, still arrived in London. As they noted, ‘just about any’ other European capital would be better. You saw it here first.
ICAO too needed to be seen to be in the testing arena, so it released a testing manual. That sounds very impressive too. By Monday night, it was getting to the point where the aviation testing industry was fast approaching the investment banking industry’s ability to use great names. Bird and Fortune highlighted this best, during the sub-prime crisis.
Perhaps more importantly, IATA, reduced to holding a virtual AGM this year – the irony so sad as to not be commented on – announced a change of leadership. Alexandre de Juniac is to be replaced by Willie Walsh, formerly of IAG. He is famous for his opinions – here he is recently, talking at a Eurocontrol HardTalk Live [yes, to Aviation Advocacy, full disclosure alert] stoutly defending slots and attacking airports – and thus setting the trend for the sub-text of the week, increasingly bellicose statements…
The dialogue of the deaf got even louder on Tuesday, if that was possible, when IATA came out with another contribution; a travel pass. By the end of the week, both ICAO’s manual and the IATA travel pass were missing in action as the public health and medical communities continued to insist on data, not bellicose statements.
It turns out that bellicosity is contagious, as the need for testing turned to the environment discussion. The UK prime minster, Boris Johnson, no stranger to bellicose statements, set out a new challenge to aviation in his recent statement on the UK’s environmental ambitions – ‘Jet Zero’. This of course is not to be confused with Airbus’ ZeroE initiative. Jet Zero is an attempt to produce a commercial trans-Atlantic (not just any commercial flight) by 2025. It all sounds so good when announced in a press release, but on Wednesday reality bit, in the form of people that know what they are talking about dismissing it as a gimmick. Away from the attention grabbing headlines, those that stand to profit most from sustainable aviation fuel, the SAF suppliers such as Neste of Finland are moving to acquire any competition out there. Good to see that one of the most sustainable parts of the oil industry is the desire to create oil supply monopolies.
Thursday saw another change at the top, this time, at the top of Germany’s ANSP, DFS. Arndt Schoenemann is to replace Klaus-Dieter Scheurle at the end of the year. Before the crisis, DFS was in the eye of the capacity storm in Europe, responsible for 27% of all the en-route delays. There is no reason to believe that the seat is much less hot now, as the pandemic rages on. We wish Herr Schonenemann all the very best.
Somehow, all the themes of the week came together on Friday. After years of being scrupulously neutral, BA has finally found a topic on which it wants to be seen to be partial. How do you mix testing, bellicose statements and leadership changes together in one move, you may ask? We were certainly asking that question, until the news broke that BA had tweeted their support to the English rugby team as they prepared to play Wales. You cannot make this up. A test, of course, so that is the first tick. Bellicosity? We are talking rugby. Tick, tickety tick. And a leadership change? You bet. BA, which under Walsh would not come out in support of remaining in the EU, despite the clear benefits to an airline of being in the world’s largest single aviation market, under new (Irish) management in the form of Sean Doyle, had its own attempt to further dis-unite the so-called United Kingdom. BA may be looking for a new tail design soon.
Another testing week, if we have to shout it ourselves.