{"id":997,"date":"2020-06-07T21:57:48","date_gmt":"2020-06-07T19:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aviationadvocacy.aero\/blog\/?p=997"},"modified":"2020-06-08T07:38:16","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T05:38:16","slug":"twtwtw-1-june-5-june-a-short-week-in-which-grand-statements-met-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aviationadvocacy.aero\/blog\/?p=997","title":{"rendered":"TWTWTW 1 June – 5 June. A short week, in which grand statements met reality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Most of Europe took a long weekend on Monday.  <\/strong>It may be the last time it gets to do so.  In France, there are moves afoot to take it away, to catch up time spent in lockdown.  Still, the weather was glorious, as befits Pentecost, and everyone got to take a deep breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because Tuesday<\/strong> saw Qatar Airways\u2019 chief executive flex his muscles and tell the world\u2019s two largest aircraft manufacturers they better give him what he wants or\u2026 Like all other airlines that have aircraft orders with Airbus and Boeing, Akbar Al Baker wants deliveries pushed back owing to the Covid-19 traffic slump. \u201cWe are negotiating with both Boeing and Airbus to fulfil our requirement to defer and we hope that both the manufacturers will oblige,\u201d he told Reuters<\/a>. \u201cThey have no other alternative to oblige and if they make it difficult to oblige, we will keep them in mind and we will not do business with them again.\u201d Really? That threat only works up to a point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the urge to overstate is obviously catching because in Montreal, IACO Council president Salvatore Sciacchitano made another grand statement. \u201cThe world needs aviation and aviation today is in great need of ICAO,\u201d he proclaimed<\/a> as he presented the UN body\u2019s guidelines to support the restart and recovery of global air travel<\/a>. The \u2018Take-Off\u2019 guidelines \u201cwill now align public and private sector actions and mitigations as we get the world flying again,\u201d he boasted during an online media briefing, while expressing confidence in the cooperation of the world\u2019s governments. \u201cThe council that adopted the report is composed of 36 representatives of member states. So, in this sense, I am very much confident that the guidelines will be implemented.\u201d Don\u2019t hold your breath. How has that worked out in the past?  The European Commission and EASA also issued a blueprint for a coordinated restart of air travel across the bloc and so far EU countries\u20147 of which are also ICAO Council members\u2014are opening frontiers, removing travel bans, and imposing health safety measures on their own terms and at their own pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday <\/strong>Michael O\u2019Leary thought it necessary to turn to the Financial Times to gain support for his mission to stop the virtually unconditional stream of state aid to Europe\u2019s flag carriers.  \u201cToday\u2019s bailouts are regressive, unfair and unlawful. They will set the clock back, threatening the future of European aviation at least as much as the pandemic itself,\u201d the Ryanair CEO wrote in an op-ed<\/a>. Obviously, extremely irked by France\u2019s \u20ac7 billion bailout of Air France, Italy\u2019s \u20ac3 billion recapitalization of Alitalia and Germany\u2019s \u20ac9 billion rescue package to Lufthansa, the boss of Europe\u2019s largest LCC (again) called on the European Commission \u201cto tackle the biggest distortion of all: the bias in favor of national airlines from big countries with deep pockets.\u201d After all we have been through, he wrote, it would be \u201ca tragedy\u201d if European air transport emerges from the pandemic less competitive than before, with inefficient monopolies effectively renationalized and free to increase fares, reduce choice and engage in predatory conduct that drives low-cost competitors from the market.\u201d Stop. Inhale. Think. Is O\u2019Leary predicting Lufthansa & Co will drive Ryanair and Wizz Air from the market?  Drive other LCCs from the market, perhaps\u2026   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ICAO\u2019s Sciacchitano might be confident the UN body\u2019s guidelines to support the recovery of global air travel will be implemented on a global scale, but Europe\u2019s airlines and airports are not rushing to adopt the guidelines developed by Europe\u2019s aviation safety agency and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.  Thursday <\/strong>saw EASA reveal<\/a> that so far 10 airlines and airport operators from across Europe \u2013yes, 10, count them, ten\u2014had committed to abide by its guidelines. EASA Executive Director Patrick Ky nonetheless appeared satisfied. \u201cI am delighted to welcome these first implementers of our guidelines and charter,\u201d he said. \u201cThese airlines and airports will lead the way in applying the recommended measures and will share their experiences with us. This will help us to reach the ultimate goal of harmonised, health-safe travel across Europe and to destinations beyond.\u201d  On the list from the airport side: Spanish airport operator AENA, Athens International Airport, Brussels Airport, Fraport, Milan Malpensa and Linate Airport operator SEA Aeroporti di Milano, A\u00e9roport Nice C\u00f4te d’Azur and Paris Charles De Gaulle. From the airlines, only Aegean Airlines, easyJet and Wizz Air are on board. Noteworthy absentees include Europe\u2019s busiest airport (by 2019 passenger data), Heathrow, and Europe\u2019s largest airline groups, Ryanair, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and IAG. Ryanair even appears not to have read all the EASA guidelines or choose to ignore some of them. The LCC is advising<\/a> passengers to \u201cchoose priority [boarding] & 2 cabin bags to keep your luggage with you,\u201d whereas EASA recommends<\/a>  airlines <\/strong>minimise the amount of hand luggage taken into the cabin, in order to expedite the boarding and disembarking procedure and to reduce the movements and potential contamination in the cabin. \u201cOperators should promote the carriage of luggage in the cargo compartments by implementing incentive policies,\u201d it advises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday<\/strong>, British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair launched<\/a> a last-ditched attempt to halt the UK government\u2019s imposition of 14-day quarantine requirements from June 8 and threatened to take legal action arguing the measure is \u201cdisproportionate and unfair\u201d on British citizens as well as international visitors arriving in the UK. Meanwhile, prime minister Boris Johnson appears to be doubting his own policy and reportedly<\/a> is keen to put so-called \u201cair bridges\u201d in place to neutralise the quarantine rules. These bilateral deals would allow British holidaymakers to travel abroad without needing to self-isolate for two weeks on return.  Only trouble is finding countries happy to have visitors from a place with such terrible infection rates\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most of Europe took a long weekend on Monday.  It may be the last time it gets to do so.  In France, there are moves afoot to take it away, to catch up time spent in lockdown.  Still, the weather was glorious, as befits Pentecost, and everyone got to take a deep breath. Because Tuesday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,29,15,11,12,40,21,43,32,27,44,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-air-navigation-service-providers","category-air-services-agreements","category-airlines","category-airports","category-competition","category-covid-19","category-disaster-relief","category-easa","category-international-civil-aviation-organization","category-low-cost-carriers","category-regulatory","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aviationadvocacy.aero\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aviationadvocacy.aero\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aviationadvocacy.aero\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aviationadvocacy.aero\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aviationadvocacy.aero\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=997"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.aviationadvocacy.aero\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1000,"href":"https:\/\/www.aviationadvocacy.aero\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997\/revisions\/1000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aviationadvocacy.aero\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aviationadvocacy.aero\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aviationadvocacy.aero\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}