European fragmentation

European carriers suff ered a 73.7% traffi c decline in 2020 versus 2019, making it one of the worst aff ected regions. Combined, Europe’s airlines lost €27 billion.

The reliance on international traffi c has seen the decline continue in 2021. March, for example, saw an 88.3% decline in traffi c compared with

March 2019 and a load factor below 50%.

“Pre-COVID, Europe had effi cient connections,” says Rafael Schvartzman, IATA’s

Regional Vice President for Europe. “The

European Union (EU) space was a single market, similar to the US domestic market. That intra-EU connectivity has gone. What we have now is as fragmentation.”

Anything that can speed the recovery of

European carriers and improve their future effi ciency has to be welcomed. IATA Travel Pass contains all the passenger details necessary for safe, effi cient travel. It will inform passengers on what tests, vaccines, and other measures they require prior to travel, details on where they can get tested, and, most importantly, the ability to share their tests and vaccination results in a verifi able manner that also protects privacy.

The aim is to give airlines and governments

words with the SES” Willie Walsh, IATA Director General accurate information on passengers’ COVID-19 health status and therefore the confi dence that they can restart operations and re-open borders. And most importantly, it can be integrated with the EU COVID-19 Certifi cate.

The interoperable, secure, and GDPRcompliant health certifi cate represents an essential tool to facilitate the free movement of people within the EU and reopen travel in a safe and responsible way. The EU has also called for free and accessible testing and full equality so that no additional measures, such as quarantine or further testing, should be imposed on travelers presenting a valid EU COVID-19 Certifi cate.

“The certifi cate will help restore confi dence,” says Schvartzman. “It will bring something that has been missing; a coordinated and harmonized set of rules to re-establish connectivity. And thanks to the integration with IATA Travel Pass, that harmonization and connectivity can spread to the rest of world.”

Indeed, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission (EC), has said that the EU will grant unrestricted access to vaccinated travelers from the United States.

IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh called it “a step in the right direction.” He added: “It gives hope to people for so many reasons—to travel, to reunite with loved ones, to develop business

opportunities or to get back to work.”

Recently, France and Spain have relaxed COVID-19 border measures for vaccinated passengers and adopted the broader use of aff ordable antigen testing although harmonized measures across Europe are still a long way off .

“Many European states have yet to signifi cantly relax borders at all,” said Walsh. “This fragmentation should be replaced with a unifi ed approach that is consistent with the recommendations of the EU. People, businesses and economies would all benefi t from greater alignment across Europe in relaxing measures and restoring the freedom to travel.”

It is not enough to simply recover, however. The aim for the industry is to build back better. If that is to be the case, the EC still has plenty of work to do. Most obviously, it must kickstart the infamously languorous Single European Sky. The June 2021 Transport Council—attended by Transport Ministers—must adopt more ambitious targets.

“State inaction has meant that SES targets have not been met,” explains Walsh. “New legislation, as proposed by the Commission, is the only way to force the reform and improvements that are desperately needed. But the intransigence and selfi shness of key EU states and their air navigation service providers (ANSPs) threatens to collapse the latest Commission eff ort.”

The SES is vital for a safe, sustainable, and effi cient European air transport industry. Among its benefi ts are: an improvement in safety performance by a factor of ten greater capacity and fewer delays, giving a €245 billion boost to Europe’s GDP and a million extra jobs annually from 2035

A 10% cut in EU aviation emissions, supporting the European Green Deal.

“Europe talks a good game about the importance of sustainability and competitiveness,” says Walsh. “If the combined weight of the climate crisis and the COVID-19 crisis are not suffi ciently compelling drivers for SES, it’s hard to know what could be.”

IATA supports giving regulators the power to enforce robust performance targets. It also endorses the strengthening of the pan-European Network Manager to improve effi ciency, which will help cut delays and emissions.

Walsh believes a failure of the Commission’s proposal would be a lost opportunity for change when it is vitally needed. “The environment and the European economy will pay a high price for that, along with travelers and airlines,” he argues.

“It is diffi cult to know what will happen in the years ahead,” concludes Schvartzman. “After all, you could never have predicted what has happened so far. But is important not to repeat mistakes. The fragmentation of Europe was the worst. Regional connectivity must be maintained through a data-driven approach that would also spark global connectivity.”

“Passenger confi dence is vital,” he adds. “Clearly, the demand is there. But if the rules to allow travel are not in sync then airlines will be stopped from serving that demand. Aviation can grow strong again, but it needs a coordinated response from all stakeholders.”

For details on European airport charges, visit the Airlines. website at https://airlines.iata.org

David Bunting, Managing Director, EMEA, JBT Ground Support Equipment

Ground handlers have been hit hard, for example. Staff have been furloughed or lost their jobs and expensive ground equipment has lain dormant. David Bunting, Managing Director, EMEA for JBT Ground Support Equipment, says many handlers turned to the cargo sector for some degree of relief.

“The cargo sector has been resilient and even grown during the pandemic,” he notes. “This growth can be put down to a number of factors, including the requirement of personal protective equipment for frontline staff dealing with the pandemic and the increase in on-line retailing.”

But switching to handling cargo fl ights was easier said than done. Because the industry lost the bellyhold capacity of passenger fl ights, space was at a premium. The airline solution was to quickly press unused passenger aircraft into cargo service. This created a host of challenges for ground handling companies that were short on personnel and the right equipment.

Simply, cargo ground fl eet isn’t designed to dock at a passenger door and cargo shipments aren’t expected to be walked up and down passenger steps.

JBT’s Cargo Chute was designed to meet this challenge. The Cargo Chute is a temporary modifi cation to passenger steps, eff ectively turning them into a conveyor belt. Operators are able to safely unload packages in a controlled manner eliminating the requirement to walk down steps while carrying cargo and packages. This alleviates the strain on operators, reduces manpower requirements, and speeds operations.

As this work continues, ground operators must also turn their attention to the industry restart. It will not be easy. The sector has low margins and high staff turnover even in normal times. Gearing up to handle the resumption of passenger traffi c from a standing start will test every company in the sector.

Bunting believes that JBT is better placed than many as the company manufactures a broad range of ground support equipment, which is easy to operate, reliable, and supported by a truly global customer service network.

Ensuring their equipment is ready for action could require a full safety inspection, however, although this depends on how the machinery was stored and maintained while idle.

“Careful attention will need to be paid to components which may have deteriorated while out of use, such as hardened seals and fl at spots on wheels,” says Bunting. “We’ve even seen birds and vermin nesting in equipment but, hopefully, if it has been regularly checked and run to normal operating temperature and, for electric equipment, batteries kept optimized this won’t be an issue.”

To assist its customers, JBT has run a number of online maintenance training courses as well as customer specifi c virtual troubleshooting. This has helped keep its vast range of equipment prepared for all eventualities.

Equally important is the use of data to understand exactly what is required and how a piece of equipment is performing. Modern fl eet is constantly monitored, and the use of metrics can fi ne tune operational effi ciency. JBT’s iOPS telematics suite provides a multitude of data to support the effi cient operation of a ground handler’s fl eet, such as live access to a machine’s current status, fl eet utilisation, and predictive maintenance warnings.

As the industry begins its long recovery to pre-COVID traffi c levels, many innovations will come to the fore. For ground operators, this could make all the diff erence and allow a return to profi tability. JBT is determined to lead advances in the sector and provide the fl exibility and reliability that ground operators crave in their equipment.