Airliner World – April 2018

54 AIRLINER WORLD APRIL 2018

Juniac is warning of another potential

threat to aviation’s future prospects.

The former Air France-KLM Chairman

and CEO is unequivocal about IATA’s

biggest challenge in the years ahead

• the lack of investment in infra-
  structure. Indeed, he is so concerned,
  that he told guests at the Singapore
  Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit in
  February, “we are headed for a crisis”.
  “Governments are not meeting their
  responsibility to provide sufficient
  infrastructure for the industry to
  meet demand. In the case of air
  traffic management, that also has an
  environmental cost. Airlines have
  invested in ’planes with amazing
  capabilities, but we are not able to use
  them fully to maximise efficiency.
  We have a shortage of infrastructure
  and the management of the [existing]
  infrastructure can also be improved or
  optimised, especially in Europe.”
  IATA is supporting the “corporati-
  sation” of US air traffic management
  (ATM) but de Juniac says the develop-
  ment of NextGen, the FAA-led moderni-
  sation of America’s air transportation
  system, continues to “suffer in the
  budgeting process”.
  One of the proposals put forward in
  the US is to privatise the system but
  this has many high-profile opponents,
  including Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger,
  the captain of the US Airways Airbus
  A320 that made an emergency landing
  on the Hudson River in New York City.
  Sullenberger believes privatisation of US
  ATM will benefit airlines’ bottom lines at
  the expense of other users, such as the
  business and general aviation commu-
  nities. In an opinion piece for the USA

To d ay newspaper, Sullenberger wrote:

“The airlines, as a business, have their

own agenda, but it is not our American

agenda. It is a bad idea, and it would

benefit only one industry.”

IATA says it will continue to push for

changes but de Juniac admits there are

“high hurdles” to overcome to achieve

its goal.

The association is in favour of ‘single

sky’ concepts, enabling traffic to flow

more efficiently and safely through

different nations’ airspace within

certain regions.

IATA would like faster progress on

the implementation of the Asia-Pacific

Seamless Air Traffic Management Plan

“to avoid the disaster that we are living

with [in] Europe’s fragmented sky”.

According to de Juniac, Europe’s

issues stem from “narrow national

interests” blocking the implementation

of the Single European Sky initiative.

IATA has countered this by working

with individual governments to develop

national airspace plans that it hopes

could be the building blocks for a

single sky. The association has signed

agreements with Poland and France

to co-operate on developing a national

airspace strategy and is in advanced

discussions with air navigation service

providers in Germany, Italy and Spain.

Airports

The infrastructure challenge isn’t

confined to airspace management

but also airports. IATA believes its

members’ requirements are simple; they

need capacity to meet demand, and at

an affordable cost.

“Airport infrastructure is not being

built fast enough to cope with growth,”

bemoaned de Juniac. “That’s why air-

port slots are so important, and the

De Juniac pointed to
Seoul’s Incheon Airport
as a good example of
what can be achieved.
AVIATION IMAGE NE T WORK/
BAILEY

The IATA boss ques-
tioned why the cost of
building a third runway
at Heathrow was so high.
HEATHROW AIRPORT

OPPOSITE • Manila in the

Philippines is one of

several cities

suffering from a lack

of aviation capacity.

AIRTEAMIMAGES.COM/AJ

According to de Juniac,

Europe’s issues stem

from “narrow national

interests” blocking the

implementation of the

Single European Sky

initiative.