CAPA World Aviation Summit & Awards for Excellence
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08:00-09:00 |
Registration, Networking & Coffee |
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09:00-09:05 |
Chairperson’s Welcome |
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09:05-09:15 |
Host Welcome Government of Gibraltar, Minister for Business, Tourism and The Port, Vijay Daryanani MP |
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09:15-09:30 |
CAPA Outlook: State of the Industry CAPA – Centre for Aviation, Chief Financial Analyst, Jonathan Wober |
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09:30-10:00 |
Airline CEO Interview - airBaltic airBaltic, President & CEO, Martin Gauss Michael Bell |
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10:00-10:45 |
Meeting of minds - looking back at 2022, looking forward to 2023 After an encouraging first two decades of the 21st Century that had provided a fertile environment to support the growth of air travel, nobody was prepared for the rollercoaster ride that the initial years of the 2020s have offered. It was the proverbial calm before the storm. But this was not like any storm encountered previously. As the coronavirus crisis evolved from a small news story into a global pandemic, air travel came to a near standstill. The calm climb of the previous decades came to an immediate stop and an industry collapsed into freefall. This was a vertical drop. And it didn’t stop, wiping years of growth in a matter of days. It suddenly became all about survival. Costs were quickly jettisoned as businesses restructured in preparation for recovery. That path has become complicated by a mutating virus and cautious governments, but an increasingly vaccinated population and strong pent-up demand is already delivering growth in most geographic markets. As sentiment to travel rises, the industry is growing again. Global domestic air capacity is already nearing pre-pandemic levels and peaking above 2019 levels in some markets. International air travel is following behind as travel restrictions have been slowly lifted, but where restrictions remain continue to blunt performance. But just as some confidence was starting to return, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the rising cost of fuel has impacted a recovery path that will also be influenced by technological developments and sustainability considerations. Willie Walsh, director general of International Air Transport Association (IATA), highlighted at the airline body’s 2022 AGM, that the air transport industry is constantly facing headwinds. It is clear that the latest decade has concentrated these into a smaller window of time than would have been wanted.
Moderator: Strikitsa Consulting, Managing Director, Yolanta Strikitsa Panel: airBaltic, President & CEO, Martin Gauss Air Serbia, CEO, Jiri Marek PLAY, CEO, Birgir Jonsson Tus Airways, CEO, Ahmed Aly Etihad, Senior Advisor, Adrian Gane |
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10:45-11:15 |
Coffee Break & Networking |
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11:15-12:00 |
Operational issues prove hurdle to recovery process As the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided and become an endemic disease it is having less of an influence over global air travel. But airlines are still having to trim flight schedules as supply chain constraints become the bigger concern than virus transmission. The most acute problem has been a shortage of labour. From pilot shortages at airlines to the slow accreditation of ground staff at airports, these issues are having a significant impact on planning for the future – within the industry and by consumers. Europe and North America are not yet back to 100% of pre-COVID-19 traffic levels, but airport and aerospace delays in the regions are at or approaching pre-pandemic levels. Airlines have even ceased taking bookings to ease a crisis that has seen schedules culled, yet still long delays at immigration and a rise in miss-placed baggage. The global pandemic has exposed many problems in airline and airport operational departments and remains a major management challenge. Put simply, the return of travellers has proved more difficult for the industry than anyone thought it would be.
Moderator: Miller Air Group, President, Michael Miller Panel: Eurowings Discover, COO, Wolfgang Raebiger LOT, COO, Maciej Wilk TUI Group, Chief Airline Officer, Marco Ciomperlik KornFerry, Senior Client Partner, Michael Bell |
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12:00-12:10 |
Innovation Roadshow - HRS {Download Presentation} HRS Crew & Passenger Solutions, CCO, Yvo van der Tol |
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12:10-12:55 |
Sustainability {Download Presentation} Airlines are having to take a much more pro-active stance with their sustainability drives. With cries of ‘greenwashing’ over previous offset schemes they need to be transparent in their communications and honest in their activity. It has been said that the least-emitting flight “is one that doesn’t happen at all”. While we will see substitution to other forms of travel for short-haul (especially short-distance domestic travel) that is not a practical solution in a world where long-haul travel has proliferated. As such climate scientists say that to get climate change under control, airlines need to reduce their emissions and consumers will become increasingly demanding as the subject of sustainability dominates the headlines. One of the biggest movers in this area is sustainable aviation fuels. There’s momentum growing in this field, but there are still unresolved issues about scaling up, getting costs at least competitive with standard fuels, getting governments to support R&D, production and infrastructure.
Moderator: IH Consultancy, Owner, Ian Heywood IAG, Group Head of Sustainability, Jonathan Counsell Easyjet, UK Country Manager, Ali Gayward ATAG, Executive Director Haldane Dodd 360 Aircraft Finance, CEO, Dr Peter Smeets Wizz Air, Chief People & ESG Officer, Johan Eidhagen |
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12:55-14:00 |
Lunch Break & Networking |
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14:00-14:30 |
Airline CEO Interview - Wizz Air Wizz Air, CEO, Jozsef Varadi John Strickland |
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14:30-14:40 |
Innovation Roadshow - Flyr Labs {Download Presentation} FLYR Labs, Sales Director, Dominic Matthews |
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14:40-15:25 |
International recovery; building a shock proof international travel network Challenges on the path to recovery and sustainability requirements aside, domestic air travel is now on par with pre-pandemic levels and international recovery is on a positive path. Regional variation remains with Latin America leading the way and reaching 2019 levels during 3Q 2022, followed by North America, Africa and the Middle East. In Europe the recovery has plateaued and now entering seasonal autumnal decline, while Asia Pacific remains the laggard, due mainly to slow border reopenings and strong anti-COVID restrictions in major markets such as Japan and China. Summer 2022 has certainly seen more of a focus on international recovery and a familiarity returning to airline networks. Now lessons must be learned for the future to build a shock proof international travel network. COVID-19 and previous pandemics such as Swine flu and SARS, have shown how vulnerable global air transport is being to disrupted by health crises. While the industry – and the wider world – may not have been adequately prepared for the pandemic, history warns us that it won’t be the last time such an issue arrives. Repeated studies by the aviation sector, global health organisations and experts have shown that shutting down air travel actually had little positive public health impact.
Moderator: Miller Air Group, President, Michael Miller Panel: Air Nostrum, Network Planning & Scheduling Director, Miguel Oliver ForwardKeys, CCO, Laurens van der Oever ERA, Director General, Montserrat Barriga Avianca, CCO, Manuel Ambriz |
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15:25-16:00 |
Coffee break & Networking |
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16:00-16:45
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Carrying the load – Cargo had a ‘good’ pandemic Innovation has always been at the heart of the air transport industry and with COVID-19 restricting passenger movements, airlines quickly looked to alternative revenue streams to stay afloat. The obvious and most common solution was to carry freight, which required minimal human intervention and, with no passengers on board, meant minimal risk of spreading the virus. Some operators were already prepared for this carrying bellyhold cargo onboard their aircraft, some had more established freight operations and divisions, while others quickly adapted (by passenger-to-freight conversions), or improvised by carrying cargo in the main cabins of passenger aircraft and the arrival of so called ‘preighters’. Global air cargo traffic comfortably exceeded constrained capacity throughout 2021, while capacity shortages benefitted cargo yield and load factor. Demand has softened more recently, but Jun-2022 CTKs were still +0.8% up on Jun-2019 (while RPKs were -29.2%). The resilience of cargo traffic, coupled with strong yield growth, resulted in a +37% increase in world airline cargo revenue: from USD101 million in 2019 to USD139 million in 2020. IATA estimated that cargo revenue jumped by a further +47% in 2021 to reach USD204 million – more than double the 2019 number. Air cargo increased its share of airline revenue from 12% in 2019 to 40% in 2021. IATA forecasts that this will ease back to 24% in 2022, but air cargo could well emerge from the pandemic with its position structurally enhanced. The air cargo sector is edging back to a kind of post-pandemic structural normality, both in terms of total capacity and the balanced duopoly between freighter and belly capacity (with no preighter deployment).
Moderator: Pangiam, President, Steven Greenway Panel: Turkish Airlines, SVP Cargo Marketing, Faith Cigal Emirates SkyCargo, SVP Cargo Worldwide, Henrik Ambak Atlas Air, SVP Global Sales, Richard Broekman |
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16:45-17:15 |
Airline CEO Interview - TUI Group TUI Group, Chief Airline Officer, Marco Ciomperlik Moderator: John Strickland |
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17:15-17:20 |
Day 1 Closing Remarks |