Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Edition – November 2018

businesstraveller.com

36

WORDS ALEXANDER FREEMAN

The airline

industry has

been subject to

disruptive forces

for decades.

But what has

this meant for

passengers,

and is it time for

us to rethink our

expectations

of air travel?

T

U B L NT

U

R

E

TIMES

NOVEMBER 2018

W

hen we hear about disruption in aviation, we

tend to think of lost luggage, f light delays

or cancellations. However, disruption can

also have a wider meaning for the aviation

industry and business in general.

Disruption displaces established practices

and challenges the status quo. As Uber did

for taxis, Airbnb for hospitality and Amazon for retail,

new business models also subject the aviation industry

to disruption. The difference is, unlike Uber, Airbnb

and Amazon – whose rise came with the evolution of the

internet and digital technolog y – disruption for airlines

has been happening for longer and for several reasons.

It has had many positive effects for travellers, and some

negative ones, but to understand where things are heading,

it’s necessary to remind ourselves how we got to where we

are today, and why airlines oten seem unprepared.

RULES AND REGULATIONS

Generally speaking , airlines aren’t fond of change – yet

if the events of this century are any indication, change in

aviation is inevitable. In the “Future of the Airline Industry

2035” report, IATA (the International Air Transport

Association) points out that, “As arguably the most global

of industries, the externalities international air transport

faces are numerous. The winds of change buffeting the

industry can come from many directions.”

Take the enormous cost of capital investment, add

complex levels of regulation and the omnipresent

inf luence of states and geopolitics and this “buffeting” can

become severe turbulence.