CAPA Qatar Aviation Aeropolitical and Regulatory Summit

Willie Walsh, CEO, IAG

Cargo services often are given less attention than passenger operations. Yet, air cargo serves as a lifeline for nations such as Qatar and also provides the foundation for the global supply chain. Yet, the nature of the cargo business demands operational flexibility and liberal operating rules to meet the needs of consumer businesses. This panel will examine the forces and pressures shaping the business.

Riding on the success of the Doha Declaration released at the 2019 CAPA Qatar Aviation Aeropolitical and Regulatory Summit, we celebrate those that have committed to helping continue the evolution of the Declaration through further research and education in the aviation sector.

• What are the alternative ownership models to privatisation?
• What do governments need to consider when deciding whether airports should be privatised?
• What form should regulation take, in order to strike a balance between national and private interests?
• Who ‘owns” airport slots? How should slot policy be regulated and developed?
• What future is there for managing airport capacity that cannot meet demand? To prevent chaos and one that limits growth?

Peter Harbison, Chairman Emeritus CAPA – Centre for Aviation

H.E Akbar Al Baker, Group CEO, Qatar Airways

Alexandre de Juniac, Director General & CEO, IATA

H.E Akbar Al Baker, Group CEO, Qatar Airways

The airline industry has undergone significant changes in the past years, with the exit of several “household names” from the market, and other carriers struggling for survival.  These changes have dramatically affected consumers, and have altered the alliance ecosystem.  This panel will consider:

• The role of the regulator in responding to carrier failures;
• Whether ownership and control rules are limiting or distorting the restructuring of the industry;
• The impact of national insolvency and competition rules on the restructuring process;
• Will see the emergence of truly multinational carriers?;
• Changes in carrier cooperation in a shifting competitive landscape.

Despite its significant State-to-State diversity, the Asia-Pacific Region has spawned ground-breaking cross border models and regulation. In this session, we hear from key markets across the Asia Pacific region on their aviation regulation policies to determine who has their regulation settings right.

Asia Pacific will remain the world’s fastest growing air transport market in terms of passenger and freight traffic for the foreseeable future. In 2019, ICAO declared its goal was to reconcile the political positions of each ICAO member state in the region as much as possible on matters concerning the liberalisation of market access, air carrier ownership and control.

• To what level has this succeeded? What does the future hold?
• What impact has the application of the ASEAN open skies principles had on the region?
• What impact has high regulatory costs and inefficient infrastructure had on the region?

Just as airlines begin to savour the prospect of financial sustainability, this ease has been quickly interrupted by the threat of failing to meet sustainability goals. In the area of climate change, of course, national and EU emissions targets provide clear goals for airlines (and airports) to work towards. However, the rapid growth of the industry intensifies the need to act quickly and effectively. But, sustainability relates to more than simply our approach to climate change.

• Why does industry need to earn its licence to grow?
• What external pressures are we seeing to challenge aviation’s sustainability record?
• Status of EU ETS/CORSIA and overlap of national emission schemes with CORSIA
• Noise regulation as a challenge to growth
• How to drive the commercial deployment of sustainable aviation fuels as a pillar of industry’s climate action strategy?
• Technological advances as a driver of environmental efficiency

The EU has played a vital leadership role in aviation in Europe and the North Atlantic and, increasingly, globally. In recent years the face of the airline industry has changed rapidly, with new entrants, new airline types and new aircraft all contributing to a very different environment compared with 20 years ago. The panel will review the extent and relevance of these developments and discuss where the industry – and its regulation – might be heading.

• The evolution of European Union Comprehensive Air Transport Agreements and Europe’s parallel/multilateral agreements;
• EU-Middle East relations: open markets or limited flights?;
• An update on the EU-Qatar agreement;
• EU-China agreement – how much will it impact global connectivity and regionalisation?;
• Ambitions, challenges and milestones;
• Ownership and control limitations – encouraging investment into airlines and infrastructure;
• Economic benefits (passenger and cargo) of liberalisation and deregulation;
• The impact of BREXIT.