That Was The Week That Was 17–21 October 2022
Chutzpah, thy name is ICAO
OK, a bit of a riff on what Shakespeare said, but if he was around today, he would have been tempted to say it. He would have been tempted to look at a few other Shakespearian themes and tropes coming out of ICAO’s triennial Assembly too. Hubris for example. Exaggeration. Blind ambition. The clash of civilisations. Hatred. And that was only in the plenary sessions.
Much ink has been spent on the CORSIA slight-of-hand. Press releases trumpet the ‘victory’ of its wonderous conclusion on a long-term aspirational goal. Press release cascades down on press releases from industry popinjays from all corners of the world, including many not actually in the room. Those not in the room at least have plausible deniability – another very Shakespearian concept. The bard must be kicking himself that notwithstanding inventing thousands of neologisms, and thousands of expressions, somehow, ‘plausible deniability’ slipped through the net. For those in the room, we might need to shift our focus from Shakespeare to Dante. See you in Circle Eight.
The inexcusably present have also flooded the in-boxes of the world noting just how very clever they are. This is risky, because they are using words to tell you about something that is also in writing. They gamble that you will not exercise this gift of literacy any further. You will not actually read the document that underpins their press release. This is something of a highwire act of bravado, because if you do, you will immediately see their press releases are bunkum. Laziness, another Shakespearian trope we saw in action, as spin doctors relied on your laziness to not check the original source. Iago would be so proud.
Subscribers to the Aviation Intelligence Reporter will get further background on the remarkable events in Montreal, both in relation to CORSIA and the vote to not reinstate Russia to the Council. One of the states voting in Russia’s favour, by the way, was South Africa. The Chair of the meeting was South African. The vote from the floor was reportedly an act of insubordination aimed purely at embarrassing the Chair from a deputy gone rogue. When the cat’s away, the mice will be rats.
Instead, we focus today on another remarkable ICAO press release. It starts by noting that we recognise the remarkable role aviation plays in sustainability. Right. So remarkable that the industry and its regulators have spent 25 years coming up with the blancmange that is the long-term aspirational goal. The role aviation plays is mainly in flying international development bureaucrats to still more and more meetings around the world. Including, it seems, if again, you exercise your literacy and read the release, by jetting into Montreal.
The President of the ICAO Council notes the many interesting things that were discussed but to try to wrap their brief authority in such a cloak can only be met with more from the boy from Stratford-upon-Avon:
But man, proud man,
Dress’d in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s most assur’d—
His glassy essence—like an angry ape
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As makes the angels weep;
You would be excused for thinking he had been in Montreal himself.