Join ATW at the Farnborough Airshow 2012

This industry has adapted to many watershed events, products and economic forces that have led to major shifts in the way it does business. Jet engines, hub-and-spoke, global alliances, regional jets, low-cost carriers and terrorism are among some of history’s most significant game changers. The biggest challenge facing airlines today is oil. Not just high oil prices, though that’s a clear and present pain point, but the volatility of oil prices. For most airline managers, jet fuel has become not just their highest cost, but also their most unpredictable.

In the auditory field, the principal association with airlines in the mind of the public is that five-letter word "noise". However, air travel evokes enough pleasant perceptions that it has been alluded to a number of times in popular songs, although the more cynical among you may note that there has been less of this in recent years than in times past.

There was a curious dichotomy in the US Dept. of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report for the first half of 2012 and the month of June. On the one hand, the report appears to be packed with lots of great news: US carriers set half-year records for on-time arrival performance, lowest rates of canceled flights, mishandled bags and tarmac delays.

‘Together We Can’ video supporting SITA’s global advertising campaign to launch the new brand and showing how SITA is impacting the real world by showcasing customer and partner success stories from all sectors of the air transport industry and around the world.

The skies may have been cloudy and produced intermittent periods of cold rain at the 2012 Farnborough Airshow, but the mood of OEMs selling their products to the commercial air transport industry remained quite sunny throughout the mid-July event south of London. Indeed, belying both the weather and the shaky state of the global economy, billions of dollars worth of orders rolled in for new aircraft and engines from lessors and airlines that see strong growth going forward.

International Aero Engines manages the development, production and aftermarket services of the V2500 engine family providing 22,000 and 33,000 lbs of thrust required by 150 seat-passenger aircraft -- the fastest growing market sector in the commercial aviation industry, as well as the new military KC-390 aircraft.

If the global airline industry could speak with a single voice on issues that most restrict its ability to operate efficiently, then it would likely unite around the need for more efficient air traffic management systems, less regulatory interference in business practices, and—most of all—fewer taxes. Identifying the common issues that are everyday hurdles against profitability regardless of the economic, oil price and natural disaster crises that must also be absorbed is the easy part. Getting the message through to lawmakers is another matter.