ATW Identifies Key Priorities For IATA's Incoming Chief

IATA states its mission is to represent, lead and serve the airline industry. Willie Walsh, who became director general in April 2021 after serving as CEO at International Airlines Group (IAG), has taken that mission to heart.

Walsh took on the role when the world’s airlines were still deep in the pandemic crisis and reeling from financial losses. Travel restrictions remained in many regions, and nobody could say with certainty if or when air travel demand would return. Indeed, the 77^th AGM, which would be Walsh’s first as director general, was moved from June in Amsterdam to October in Boston, because of a wave of COVID in the Netherlands. Beyond the considerable feat of staging a large, in-person event, the Boston AGM’s most significant achievement was the passage of a landmark resolution by IATA airlines to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

In the second half of this year, the IATA director general baton will transfer again as Walsh leaves to take up another airline CEO role, this time at Indian carrier IndiGo. ATW wishes him well.

For his successor, there will of course be challenges and a long list of priorities that will be rightly steered by those of the IATA board of governors.

ATW offers three focus areas to include in that list:

• Up the pressure on governments and air navigation service providers (ANSPs) to improve their systems and reduce unnecessary congestion around major airports. Better airspace management efficiency would also reduce jet fuel use and emissions. Congested airspace has become an almost global problem but is particularly critical in Europe and the US, where it has also become a safety issue.
• Stand up loudly and clearly to those governments that burden airlines with shameful high taxes and fees. These costs are essentially “hidden bonuses” to stuff government purses. They make up a large percentage of an airfare, make airlines less competitive against international rivals, and hurt local economies by stifling air transport connectivity and growth. Worse, the money harvested by governments is almost never invested in airport and airspace management infrastructure or aviation sustainability initiatives such as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) development and production. This problem is particularly bad in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Change the aviation sustainability narrative. The 2021 net-zero initiative was the right thing to do, but times have changed. The airline industry has done all the pushing, while governments and the oil industry have mostly taken a back seat, imposed impossible SAF mandates, or just plain walked away from aviation sustainability investment and policy making. Airlines want to use SAF, but they can’t grow it or build and operate SAF refineries. The war in Iran and Strait of Hormuz crisis have demonstrated the peril of oil dependence. Governments must be made to drop SAF mandates and find other ways to force oil companies to produce affordable SAF in meaningful quantities. And, while SAF remains scarce, governments should be made to focus on implementing CORSIA, the carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation.