That Was The Week That Was : 7th -11th September
Its Metaphor Week
You do not have to be all that mischievous to think that if there is a god, She has a sense of humour. This week’s proof? This week was Metaphor Week! Who knew? Metaphor after metaphor tumbled across the week, teaching us patience and the art of finding the humour in what is the worst crisis in the history of aviation. Indeed, start there, with the word ‘history’. As in ‘the past’, or perhaps ‘his story’, another gender-specific word play She was playing with. Because, let’s face it, and as Christine Largarde noted a few months ago, female-led countries do seem to be doing the entire Covid thing much better. Instead, we go back to the past, back in history, in the bizarre hope that will fix the industry. Do you really think Alitalia would exist in a well-regulated female-run aviation industry? A very strict ‘stop your nonsense’ is all we would expect from Jacinta Ardern.
Thus, on Monday, there it was, getting still more approval for still more aid– another €200 million, now that you ask – to be the first cab of the metaphor rank. Is there an image of European aviation more metaphoric, more soul destroying than going back to, oh, about 1970, and granting Alitalia more tax payer funds? This, in one of a huge, seemingly unending number of approvals says all that is wrong. We are not using the pandemic to reform, to change, to build back better, we are using it to just build backwards. Backwards in time, backwards in solutions.
Which led, inevitably, to Tuesday, when we saw what might be the ultimate metaphor for Europe now. IATA pleading with Europe’s member states to comply with the Commission’s proposals for coordinated border opening. We (or perhaps it is still She) is playing with a number of words here: Union; Europe; coordination… A non-European entity of managers begging the European Union to work in a unionised way. The metaphors write themselves.
One airline making some hay in this confusion is Wizz Air, the first airline to have an AOC issued by EASA, which is rapidly growing by reducing its flying by about 25% in a market where the others are reducing their flying by about 50% (everything is relative). Its CEO, Jozsef Varadi, was Eurocontrol’s first guest on a new series of interviews (yes, Aviation Advocacy is involved too) to be conducted live every second week until the end of the year. The first one is here.
Varadi was particularly damning of the slot waiver that the airlines, the airports and the coordinators have now signed up to, noting that it stopped him from offering competitive services on a number of routes and at a number of airports. So Wednesday’s announcement of the launch of its to be annual Strategic Foresight Report – is there a word in that title that does not make the heart beat quicker? – makes aviation’s developments interesting. Twitter is awash with soppy farewell messages to the B747 but an analysis of the airlines’ future fleets makes two things clear – they will be smaller and they will be shorter-haul, or to the extent they are long-haul capable, fleets will be using smaller aircraft. How useful will these preciously preserved slots be then? How will they be used? If it is any guide, United Airline’s announcement of new routes suggests that it intends going to new destinations – perhaps in search of a market – but it is a very in-yer-face message to the sixth freedom carriers. All we can do is hope for more strategic foresight reviews across the industry.
Thursday saw IATA back in the news, announcing that intends increasing the visibility of air cargo infrastructure – no, not by demanding that it all be painted bright red – but by launching a platform. You might think that a cargo platform is a hard stand, or perhaps a cargo shed, but that would be wrong. Most airlines are in the cargo business only because aircraft are cylindrical. But if there is revenue to be had – and at the moment it is a growth area – they will try to fill the belly with cargo. This platform, to be called IATA ONE Source is to be for cargo what the New Distribution Capability is supposed to be for passengers – an industry-run booking platform that offers to solve the entire process, start-to-finish. Except, the specialist cargo carriers amongst IATA’s members are not called ‘Integrators’ for nothing. They offer a door-to-door service now. So what is this? What it seems to be is a declaration of hostilities between IATA’s members. Is that metaphorical, or allegorical?
Friday is traditionally when we draw breath and try to take stock. But instead, we have Brexit to fall back on. The aviation industry had thought that Brexit was done and dusted – there would be an EU-UK Open Skies agreement in the context of an over-arching framework free trade agreement etc etc… Oh wait – the British are involved. Not for nothing did the phrase ‘Perfidious Albion’ gain traction – and not recently either. Wikipedia claims the first uses date from the 13th century! So, suddenly, if there is no trade deal, we fall back to the status quo ante which in this case is, largely, open capacity third and fourth agreements with most, but by no means all, European member states and the UK. Back to the 1970s we go. Who says metaphor is dead?