We celebrated the success of Imagine 2010 and took a giant step towards our Global Vision with our new Waypoint strategy. I urge you all to take a few minutes and go to
www.canso.org/oslo2010 where you can watch some great video of the event, of Imagine 2010, and see some interviews with some key individuals as we move forward with our strategy to transform global ATM performance.
But this June I have also taken the time to attend some other key stakeholder AGM events including IATA in Berlin, and ACI Europe in Milan. Aside from the opportunity to network with large numbers of industry leaders, representing many fellow stakeholder organizations, which in turn form the backbone of the air transport industry. These AGM events provide a welcome barometer of the mood of the industry as a whole, and its demeanour towards our own ANSP sector.
Finally of course, attendance provides a welcome chance to lobby for support of the CANSO vision for a seamless Air Navigation System, which by definition requires ANSPs to work together with Airports and Airlines to achieve our common goals.
Let’s start with IATA, from where we have all come to expect the occasional offensive volley, and true to form the IATA “Wall of Shame” still features a number of European ANSPs. Yet some of these same ANSPs also received either a warm commendation for progress or better still an Eagle Award for outstanding progress and transparency. So despite the wall, progress is recognised and commended.
The airline CEO bile was evident nevertheless, but it was reserved for an altogether different segment of the Air Transport Industry – The GDS (Global Distribution Systems) whose charging regimes raised jeers from the airline CEOs worthy of a British Parliament session.
What was pleasing about the feedback in Berlin, beside the Eagle Awards, was the general feeling reported by airlines, that ANSPs are working hard to understand their customer needs and are successfully building solid partnerships with their key airline users.
Also significant in Berlin was the announcement by IATA boss Giovanni Bisignani that he was going to step down from the organisation within the year. Giovanni has never been afraid to ruffle feathers, but whatever people think of him, there is no doubt that he has stamped IATA on the map, as the large press gathering at the AGM showed. He has also, to be fair, recognised CANSO’s efforts to help transform ATM performance, as his interview in our recent
Airspace magazine emphasised.
The ACI Europe AGM held in Milan (while my luggage was in Copenhagen) was altogether less confrontational, and through a session on the last day provided a welcome chance to advance CANSO’s interest in gaining airport support for CDM (Airport Collaborative Decision Making). The audience was made up of senior executives from airports across Europe and elsewhere, so a worthy group to get on side with CDM.
My message to airports was to embrace the CDM culture and to proactively seek stronger relationships with their local ANSPs and other stakeholders, such as ground handling companies, and aircraft operators, in a CDM context. Only by working together can we improve, but we improve together, collectively moving our industry closer to the CANSO vision for seamless ANS.
My comments, and the
press release we put out last week, has garnered some attention, and we have now been approached by ACI Global and Eurocontrol to explore ways that CANSO can work more closely on these initiatives.
Flight Global also picked up the story.
So AGM Season has its uses. But the real value will be if we can have delivered some meaningful results on these discussions in twelve months time.