A picture is worth a thousand words, they say. Sadly, a picture tweeted Friday from Heathrow Airport could cost the air transport industry far more dearly.

A year after the devastating effects of the COVID-19 virus on human life first became apparent, it’s disheartening, to put it mildly, still to be writing an editorial on the imperative of mask wearing during air travel.

This will be a bleak winter and there will be failures. But it will not be a winter without hope. Vaccine distribution has begun sooner than most dared to believe, certainly well inside the air transport industry’s most optimistic expectations.

Walsh will not shy away from the tough calls, including restructuring IATA to a scale and cost base that aligns with a pared down industry.

The industry as a whole needs more big name spokespersons like Ford to send the message out beyond the core community about why it is safe to fly, but also reminding people why they fly: to do business, to connect, to celebrate, to comfort.

Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark star Harrison Ford has become a spokesperson for Airlink, a major coup for getting the message about the nonprofit’s rapid response disaster relief work outside of the aviation community.

The announcement today that Cruz is stepping down from BA’s top role, though remaining as non-executive chairman through a transition period, is not really the surprise. The shock is that the leadership change was so long in coming.

A mask over mouth and nose is small ask of the passenger, but a significant contributor to that risk reduction. It’s the right thing to do in a pandemic for yourself, your fellow passengers and the flight crew.