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IATA Calls For Industry-Wide Change
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) director
general and CEO, Giovanni Bisignani, in his keynote address at the 54th PATA
Annual Conference, told delegates that air transport has to become a "low
cost industry".
Citing continued rising oil prices and increased consumer
demand for inexpensive travel options Bisignani predicted US$ 5.5 billion worth
of losses for the airline industry in 2005.
"It has never been cheaper to travel. And it has never
been as safe," said the IATA chief, noting that 2004 was the safest year
ever for aviation. "More people than ever are flying… but we have
never lost as much money." According to IATA, the global airline industry
lost US$ 36 billion between 2001 and 2004.
Bisignani outlined IATA's agenda for change within the airline
industry, "(Change) begins at home with airlines simplifying their businesses
to deliver value without the costs of complexity. Then we ask our airport partners
to be dedicated to cost efficiency and to preserve fair competition.
On monopolistic tactics employed by some airports, Bisignani
said, "We can't support a part of the value chain that has a license to
print money. The cost of inefficient infrastructure gets passed through the
value chain to our common customer." Bisignani further said that governments
must "re-think the way that they tax the industry and give us the freedom
to run our businesses as businesses." On European proposals to add a tax
to air travel to pay for developing nation debt, Bisignani said that, "This
is a serious problem. Making travel more expensive will do more harm than good
in the developing world."
In the spirit of the PATA's Annual Conference theme 'Connecting
Tourism's Stakeholders', the IATA boss said that industry stakeholders must
learn to cooperate and communicate better. Bisignani challenged IATA and PATA
to join forces and bring other industry stakeholders together. "Our industry
needs to change fast," he said, "So let's get started."
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