Don’t-break-stride security lines, streamlined air traffic control, and dominant foreign airlines. All of these could well define the way you fly in the coming years.
When the head of the International Air Transport Association speaks, people tend to listen. And Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general, just gave passengers and the airlines that transport them plenty to think about – this during a speech before the Wings Club in New York City:
Security: On this interconnected planet we inhabit, security doesn’t work well in a vacuum. It’s got to be global. He calls the United States Department of Homeland Security’s approach to the problem “refreshing and effective.”
Bisignani envisions what a lot of experts, not to mention passengers, have been pushing for years now: a high-tech don’t-break-stride species of security lane. “Passengers [would] walk through tunnels of technology appropriate to [their] risk level…without stopping, stripping, or unpacking.” Risk levels would be pegged to “passenger data.”
Despite some predictions four years ago that the Transportation Security Administration would move aggressively in that direction, don’t-break-stride still hasn’t happened. Still, IATA’s chief says “the concept is making progress.”
Air Traffic Control: Airlines love to save fuel, and passengers despise delays. A fuel-saving, delay-fighting system called NextGen could make a major difference. Long-promised, and still to be deployed, Bisignani asserts the system “can achieve … efficiency gains, cost savings, and improvement in the travel experience.”
Passenger rights: Addressing a proposed Department of Transportation rule that would fine all airlines for tarmac delays, the IATA leader believes fines won’t work. No matter how large the levy for delays, they “will not melt snow, stop thunderstorms, free up airport gates, build new infrastructure, or deliver more customs personnel. It is money wasted,” he maintains.
There are those who disagree with Bisignani, but there’s no doubt the airline industry is finally paying attention to the problem. That problem is most acute during summer thunderstorm season, and during the winter.
Foreign airlines: Bisignani believes it’s time to lighten up on rules that limit the foreign ownership stake in U.S. airlines, to liberalize the laws.
The call came even as foreign airlines gained on their U.S. counterparts. For passengers that means increased prospects of flying on an overseas carrier – especially one from Asia. “The industry’s center of gravity is shifting eastward,” he says. “Finding a place in the new world order will be a challenge for traditional leaders like the U.S.”
Consider: North America and Asia-Pacific shared 26 percent of global passengers in 2009. IATA says by 2014 the Asia-Pacific piece of the piece will have grown to 30 percent, while the North American market will comprise just 23 percent of the passengers.
Abstract statistics, and irrelevant musings? Not at all. Security, air traffic control changes, and who flies where will directly affect the way you travel in the emerging decade. Cheapflights believes the more you know about this fast-changing scenario, the better decisions you’ll be able to make when it comes time to spend your hard-earned travel dollars.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Image: davipt)
