Resiliency, collaboration and innovation – these were the recurring themes at the World Route Development Strategy Summit to that took place in Las Vegas over the past two days. Lead moderator and BBC World News anchor Aaron Heslehurst called it “by far the best and biggest” Summit ever, as 50 high-level speakers from all corners of the globe shared their latest insights with an engaged audience.
The general mood was optimistic and speakers agreed that the sector remains fragile but resilient, and that there are signs of improvement. Air travel is something people want to do and will continue to do, so where is growth coming from? It’s all about Emerging Asia. Panelists were confident that Asia is pulling the world of aviation, whilst Europe and cargo are still hurting. The US has become a model of sorts – despite sluggish growth carriers have spent the last decade cutting cost while managing capacity.
There is a sense that the old confrontational days are finally over and that the industry is starting to work more collaboratively together, be it on climate change, security or listening to passengers. There has never been a better global dialogue between ICAO, its members and industry, various speakers pointed out.
Airports and airlines are also starting to work together more closely, and more and more stakeholders embrace the “Golden Triangle” of airlines, airports and tourism authorities. World Routes’ host city pursues this approach very successfully. Las Vegas attracts 40 million visitors a year, some 45 per cent of which arrive by air. One of the priorities going forward is to increase the proportion of international visitors from the current level of 17 per cent to 30 per cent within ten years, said Rossi Ralenkotter, President and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority.
Looking beyond aviation, the cruise line industry, represented by Christine Duffy of CLIA, called for an even better cooperation between the sectors so that both sides would benefit from an expanding fleet of cruise ships that needs feeding by air.
A question which came up repeatedly during the summit was: How do we better market and communicate with customers? How can we elevate the voice of the passenger, and better shape perceptions of the industry? There is clearly no easy answer to these questions, but many initiatives such as ACI’s Passenger Plus are beginning to make an impact, according to ACI World’s Director General Angela Gittens.
Numerous speakers are convinced that the aviation industry is condemned to innovate. They point to the political and societal pressure to reduce emissions as well as to continuously high oil prices. Carbon neutral growth is the way forward for all speakers and the level of interest, sensitivity, and political activism related to this topic was highlighted during the panel.
The Strategy Summit was the first industry gathering following last week’s decision by ICAO to develop a global market -based measure by 2016 that is to come into effect by 2020. Such a global consensus is unprecedented in any industry, and most speakers welcomed the agreement. Jim Marriott of ICAO described the agreement as a “landmark event”, while John Hanlon, Secretary General of the European Low Fares Airline Association, said he was “surprised the EU feels vindicated.” The next three years will be critical in deciding the content of this global scheme, and there is a feeling that industry needs to stay involved to help ensure an environmentally efficient, equitable, and fair system.
On the related topic of regulation, panelists commented that aviation continues to be an ‘easy target’ for governments, and some concerns raised include the variation in taxation regimes across markets around the world. David Scowsill, CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council announced that his association has developed a model that can forecast the often negative overall financial impact of aviation taxes.
Speakers were invited to dream as Commercial Director Stephen Attenborough announced that Virgin Galactic is close to sending paying passengers into space. “We are nearing the end of the test flight programme, so that the first flight will take place within a year.”
A fresh perspective was offered by Lee McCabe, Facebook’s global head of travel. With 1.15 billion Facebook users who all share information, pictures and recommendations at some stage, travel is in the social media giant’s DNA. His message to the travel industry: don’t overcomplicate things, social marketing is still marketing. He still sees great opportunities for destinations, airlines and airports arising from social media.
The Strategy Summit took place on 6-7 October in Las Vegas. It was organised by ICAO, the World Bank and Routes, and sponsored by Oman Airports Management Company. A White Paper that will look at the results of the Summit in more detail will be published by the World Bank in about a month’s time.
(Shruti Vijayakumar of the World Bank contributed to this article)
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