WEDNESDAY 01 OCTOBER REPORT
The sun shines on second day of conference
Day two of ERA’s general assembly 2014 opened with the airline and airport CEOs’ breakfast. Sponsored by Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation, the event was well attended and invited media enjoyed the opportunity to interview the assembled CEOs before they departed to attend the airline and airport CEOs’ meeting where a diverse range of topics were discussed.
Nick Mower, general manager regulatory affairs, hosted a workshop on datalink which covered the contentious mandate for both operators and air navigation service providers to fit new equipment to satisfy the use of digital data link between air and ground. The existing mandate has seen consistent slippage in dates due to issues in production, certification and the installation of equipment. The workshop briefed members on the current status of the mandate and was an opportunity to listen to specific operator issues from Captain François Debost of HOP! Régional and potential avionic solutions from Ross Dickey of Universal Avionics.
Eduard Blasi of ARINC also spoke about additional potential service provision issues, highlighting possible alternative uses to offset the costs of investment for datalink.
GE Aviation, ATR, Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation, Pratt & Whitney Canada and Bombardier held press conferences throughout the morning and early afternoon. The news briefings were well attended and gave the media a great opportunity to discuss the latest developments and offerings from the firms.
The networking lunch gave delegates the chance to catch up before the first conference session of the day which started with a thought-provoking keynote address from Tony Tyler, director general and CEO, IATA. The speech was followed by a panel discussion on ‘The evolution of regional aviation; new trends for the industry’.
The session was chaired by Tony Whitty, CEO, Cabot Aviation will panellists Per G Braathen, chairman, Braganza, Roger Cohen, president, Regional Airline Association and Maurizio Merlo, CEO, Etihad Regional operated by Darwin Airline.
The panellists discussed the evolution of aviation in Europe’s regions and its future development – its relationship with network and low-cost carriers develop and whether there is still a market for niche point-to-point airlines. There was great contribution from the audience and the general consensus was that it is increasingly important to work together to ensure the future viability of Europe’s regional aviation industry and to speak with one voice on key issues.
The cocktail reception and awards dinner was a spectacular event and the entertainment from Elysium III was very well received.
The highlight of the evening was the awards winners, sponsored by ATR, with Eastern Airways accepting the Airline of the Year Gold Award, Sky Express the Silver and Air Nostrum the Bronze. Pascal Kremer of Luxair also accepted the director general’s award for personal excellence.