Partnering For The Future

IATA continues to emphasize the importance of industry and government working together as the

industry enters the second century of commercial aviation. In his keynote address at the Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit, IATA’s director general and CEO, Tony Tyler said: “The most salient lesson of commercial aviation’s first century is the value of partnerships. Through partnership, industry and government made flying the safest way to travel. This is a good guide as we look ahead to aviation’s next century. No matter what the challenge, solutions built in partnership between industry and government are the most durable and yield the best results.”

In his address, Tyler talked about a range of issues where industry and government could partner with good effect, including regulation, connectivity and the environment.

On regulation, IATA’s boss observed: “I am concerned about the negative impact of growing regulatory divergence and the proliferation of “unique approaches” to regulating the industry. While they were created with the best of intentions, they often come with the unintended consequences of complexity and bureaucracy.”

And he offered five guiding principles for governments when developing regulations that included: consulting broadly with both industry and consumers; ensuring a rigorous process for analyzing the costs and benefits of any new regulation; ensuring regulations do not conflict with global standards where they exist; harmonizing so that regulations are not at cross-purposes with a global industry; and thinking about what is really going to deliver value to the passenger.

On the question of passenger rights, Tyler said: “It is fully understandable that governments wish to set some minimum guarantees to protect passengers. But the absence of a global framework on passenger rights has seen some 50 countries implement passenger rights regimes. The result is becoming an unmanageable mess of conflicting and over-lapping rules. In some cases, regulations are becoming so prescriptive that airlines cannot go the extra mile for their passengers.”

In fact, during the 2013 IATA Annual General Meeting, airlines endorsed a set of principles for passenger rights. And at its last Assembly, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was tasked to develop global standards for passenger rights regulations.

For more, go to http://www.iata.org .