Has the UK aviation industry gone into self-isolation?

So this is the new normal then. At least for now. 

Pre-virus, the UK aviation industry overall was not in a good way. Against a backdrop of losing two major UK airlines in two years, the larger groups such as IAG, easyJet and Jet2.com were making profits, whereas TUI's profits were falling and Virgin Atlantic were operating at a loss. Whilst the COVID-19 situation could be blamed for finally finishing off a previously much troubled Flybe, its fair to say that the virus situation is now, by far, the primary cause of bringing the entire industry to its knees. This, you all know.

The outlook is not good. What appears to be certain at this point is that when we do finally re-emerge, the industry landscape will, almost certainly look a lot different. Check out this interesting article that I came across about how it may look in the future (Head for Points Article). However, it’s still early days. 

So what now? In terms of industry response, the one thing I've noticed over the last two or so weeks is....well....not much really. Given the fact that our industry has been decimated and requires a huge amount of support, I'm astounded that so far, nobody, someone influential, a senior executive or any significant organisation has yet stepped up, put their heads above the parapet and shown the industry any level of real leadership. 

In 2018, Baroness Sugg (the then UK Aviation Minister) was quoted as saying 'Today we (UK) have the largest aviation network in Europe and the third largest in the world'. 

Last year IATA's Air Transport Competitiveness Campaign stated "Air transport is a key enabler of economic activity in the United Kingdom . It supports 1.56 million jobs and GBP 88.8 billion of gross value to GDP, which accounts for 4.5% of UK GDP".

This is not insignificant. 

So why the industry inertia? 

Sure, I completely get that our industry leaders and many other colleagues are probably very busy trying to shore up their own organisations, possibly also to continuing to plot the downfall of their competitors, I'd do the same. But the rules of the game have changed and will continue to change. So surely now, more than ever, is the time to put a lot of that sentiment aside and come together? At least while this is going on.  

This approach is not exactly unprecedented. UK supermarkets have shown the nation this same approach by coming together as a united front for the benefit of the nation. Surely UK airlines, associated supply chains and the industry as a whole can too. 

Any of you following my recent posts will know that I've been focussing on two main areas;

Firstly, I've called upon those influential figures, leaders of our industry, to come together as a single united front and represent the industry at governmental level, ensure that it gets a fair hearing, create a plan to help our industry get back on its feet again. Yes, we heard that there was a single conference call some weeks ago with the CEO's of Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and easyJet with the Secretary of State for Transport, but precious little since. I'm purposely not tagging them here as I've tagged them enough recently.

Secondly, some airlines are using their (non-freighter) belly capacity to operate cargo only flights. Although British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have operated a few flights in recent days and may have plans to do more, it seems sadly lacking. There are now significant amounts of recently stored aircraft parked up around UK airports, so no issue with availability of aircraft or crews to fly them. Many foreign carriers such as American Airlines, Air Canada and others are already operating cargo only flights in/out of UK. UK carriers seem to be lagging behind.

There appears to be no reason why any operator can't scale this up significantly and add wide and/or narrow body capacity in the national interest of moving required and urgent logistics quickly, in bulk to where its most needed. Internationally, domestically, wherever, supporting and supplementing the overall national effort and creating opportunities for income and survival of the industry. Win-win? This is already in progress elsewhere in Europe where an innovative approach is being adopted. Why not UK?

The industry must start listening to its experts. The government must listen to the industry.

I urge all industry colleagues to comment/challenge/like/dislike/re-forward/retweet/tag this article to at least bring this to the attention of those in industry, government and others who need to see it.

It will be a long road and I'm more than happy to play my part. I don't have all the answers but it’s a start.