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It was a quiet week, this week, the week that was. The Easter holiday meant that those that could were ski-ing or otherwise taking a break. The mad-cap pell-mell helter-skelter rush to legislate and regulate before the break gave way to quiet contemplation, chocolate digestion and weather dodging. Certainly in Europe, as if to mock us further, the weather improved the closer we got to needing to get back to the grindstone.
Still, the wheels of aviation ground on. On Monday, Thai authorities announced that the beach where the film ‘The Beach’ was filmed was to be closed, to see if they could actually get it back to the virtual reality of the film that made it famous. The actual reality of the real world as it actually is was not a good thing, apparently.
So on Tuesday when Etihad proudly told the world that it was using virtual reality devices to test what customers think of their proposed new lounges, the die was cast. This was a week for virtual reality, not the real thing. That is fine and innovative, but it is the thin end of the wedge. By definition, aviation is analogue. People and things needs to move from one place to another. If we start letting digital solutions into the tent, who knows where it ends? What is the point of a holiday that requires, you know, heat and dust and crowds and, you know, buying a ticket and getting on an aircraft, if we can get a VR solution?
Once, some years ago, IATA organised a series of webinars, so that participants did not have to travel on, wait, oh, could it be, oh yes, aircraft, to get to a meeting. When the trade association for the companies that fly people around on aircraft start to do that, virtual is a good word for the grip it has on reality. So it was really no surprise when on Wednesday that vice-like Tarzanesque grip was shown again, this time in Latin America. Spend much, much more on infrastructure, its DG thundered in Santiago de Chile. Infrastructure, regulation and costs are key to harnessing aviation’s superpowers. Oh, and by the way, reduce our taxes and charges, because by costs, obviously we mean our costs. Pay for the infrastructure from someone else’s pocket.
By now, the virtualness of reality was really starting to bite. Thursday saw the Philippines’ president go one further –acting like he was an extra on The Beach film set, he also closed one of the Philippines’ famous beaches, calling it a ‘cesspit’. Now that is a virtual experience for the technologists to duplicate.
But all of this was warm up. Mere prologue to a virtuoso virtual reality reality show of an editorial from our very dear friends the European Cockpit Association (yes, deconstruct that name at your leisure) on Friday. Pilots, it seems, do not like liberalisation. They used to love it, but not anymore. Sure, passengers are happier, aircraft manufacturers are happier, airlines are happier, but who cares about them? Not the pilots, no siree. What about the workers? Do you think it is easy running an import-export business when suddenly you are required to actually do your day job? Safety. Wait, did somebody mention safety? Keep the wet-lease rules. Whatever you do, keep the ownership and control rules. Nothing should happen until the pilots have been consulted. The pilots, you understand, are an essential part of the industry. Unlike, say, the customers, or the airlines. Ask yourself, do they have a fancy hat?
