Wednesday 14 October
Day two of ERA’s General Assembly 2015 opened with the airline and airport CEOs’ breakfast. Sponsored by Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation, the CEOs mingled with the media before the airline and airport CEOs’ meeting began.
The media had a busy morning scheduled with 328 Support Services and Pratt & Whitney Canada hosting a joint press briefing, followed by ATR, Bombardier, Mitsubishi, Pratt & Whitney Canada and Embraer all giving individual briefings.
The second session of the Operations Group Meeting opened with a welcome from the Directorate chair and vice-chair, followed by an informative and detailed presentation by Ian Gilbert representing Spectralux Avionics covering Controller Pilot Datalink Communications, an update on the mandate and the much anticipated technological solution to user/provider aborts in European airspace. Exemptions to types such as the A318, EMB-145 and Fokker 70/100 were discussed.
An excellent presentation followed delivered by Bob Simmons of Baines Simmons on competent authority performance-based oversight which was well received. Simmons suggested that regulators have created a system whereby there is too much prescriptive crossing of T’s and dotting of I’s as a result of introducing so much detail that regulatory inspectors can do nothing more than ‘tick boxes’. Delegates welcomed the news that EASA recognises this and is working towards a more effective management oversight system for operators.
EGNOS delivered a popular presentation covering an update of the Performance-Based Navigation Implementing Regulation status and implementation of localiser performance with vertical guidance (LPV) of which a mandate is expected mid-2016. Captain David Rice from member airline Aurigny Air Services then gave an insight into the advantages that LPV approaches have bought to his home base of Alderney in the Channel Islands.
Chris Mason of the ERA Directorate concluded the day’s presentations with an overview of the recent work of the ERA Air Safety Group, the regulation of drones, EASA recommendations following the Germanwings tragedy and the future work of the group. Mason outlined the work to be done to educate passengers and crews about the need to leave personal belongings behind in the event of an evacuation.
The networking lunch gave delegates the chance to catch up before the first conference session of the day on the state of the industry from Boet Kreiken, President ERA, followed by ERA’s Director General, Simon McNamara, who updated delegates on ERA’s activity in 2015.
Stefan Pichler, CEO Air Berlin, introduced conference session two which focused on keeping our industry competitive – how do we adapt to stay ahead? Chaired by Árni Gunnarsson, managing director of Air Iceland, panellists included Stefan Pichler of Air Berlin, Hugh Flynn, CEO of ASL Group, Gerald Murphy, partner, Crowell & Moring and John Strickland of JSLConsulting.
The cocktail reception and awards dinner, held at the classic car museum, Classic Remise in Berlin, was a spectacular event. The award winners included ASL Airlines Ireland, formerly known as Air Contractors winning the Gold Airline Award, Aurigny Air Services the Silver Award and Air Nostrum the Bronze Award. Shannon Airport won the Airport of the Year Award for the second year in a row and Klaus Knöpfle of kkConsult and Bernie Baldwin of Low-Fare & Regional Airlines magazine won the ERA Personal Excellence Awards.
