It was said to be hard work. For months, Willie Walsh has been trying to get airlines around the world to commit to the new destination. But shortly after the new head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) presented his resolution in Boston, through which aviation should become much more environmentally friendly, it became clear that he did not have all the members behind him. The Chinese airlines demanded a separate route.
Aviation was the first industrial sector to set its own climate goals years ago. By 2050, the industry wanted to bring net carbon dioxide emissions to half of 2005 levels. But the goals that were once groundbreaking are hardly worth mentioning today: “Science tells us that the situation is worse than we thought. Our goals so far are not ambitious enough,” said Walsh. Therefore, the global aviation sector wants to be climate neutral by 2050. This goal is to be achieved through sustainably produced fuels, more economical aircraft or projects such as the hydrogen aircraft, which Airbus wants to bring onto the market by 2035.
Individual airlines or regional associations such as Airlines for Europe (A4E) had already decided that for themselves anyway, but wanting to achieve climate neutrality on a global level is new. Although a majority of IATA members approved the new position and thus made it the industry’s official goal, the resistance of Chinese airlines is more than just a blemish: China was the fastest growing market before the crisis and is set to continue until overtake the US or Europe by the end of the decade. What the Chinese airlines do or not do is relevant on a global scale. They defended themselves against Walsh’s advance with almost identical statements and suggested that climate neutrality should not be pursued until 2060, i.e. ten years later than the IATA wants, and in accordance with the requirements of the Chinese government. But the association stuck to its stance and now has a problem with an important part of its members.
Against this background, it is noteworthy that only minutes later the IATA announced the location of the next annual meeting, which is planned for June 2022: Shanghai. This is obviously what offers of peace look like.
The process is also noteworthy from another point of view. If the event were to take place next week, not a single delegate from outside China would be able to attend, so strict are the travel restrictions imposed due to the corona pandemic. Conversely, this also means: China will for the most part drop the restrictions again in the next few weeks. For the aviation industry, this would be the next very good news after the US recently announced that it would reopen its borders for travelers vaccinated against the coronavirus. Overall, however, Asia is still very much cut off from international air traffic. Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr made this clear with an example: Lufthansa currently has more flights to New York and Chicago than to Asia.
According to forecasts, the American airlines will be the first to be profitable again
It will take a long time for the airlines to return to normal. IATA predicts the sector will have amassed losses of $ 201 billion before making a profit again in 2023. 2020 was by far the worst year in history with losses of 138 billion dollars, but in 2021 the airlines will again be in the red with 52 billion dollars. In the coming year, according to the forecasts, the American airlines will be the first to be profitable again.
But Walsh warned that the recovery could be slowed down by complicated rules and restrictions. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, numerous new security requirements were introduced around the world. Many of them have still not been abolished, although thanks to better technology they have long been obsolete. “We mustn’t make this mistake again,” demanded Walsh.
The way governments dealt with travel restrictions needs to be “improved dramatically,” said Walsh. Restrictions should not last a day longer than absolutely necessary. “There is little evidence that blanket travel restrictions bring anything,” said the IATA boss. “Travel doesn’t increase the risk of COVID-19.”
The airlines are fully behind the vaccination campaigns, but do not want to prescribe any vaccinations for their passengers themselves. In many regions of the world it is still far too difficult to get vaccines at all. As far as the pilots and flight attendants are concerned, it is complicated: In Germany, for example, Lufthansa could not prescribe a Covid-19 vaccination for its employees. However, according to CEO Spohr, there is de facto a compulsory vaccination, because many countries oblige airlines to only use vaccinated crews on international flights.