World airline trade association IATA is holding their general meeting in Boston. When European airline heads need a sinecure to fall into after being deposed, they become Director General of the International Air Transport Association.
Alexandre de Juniac was the CEO of Air France–KLM before becoming Director General. Last year he was replaced by Willie Walsh, the former CEO of British Airways and parent company IAG who left amidst a reported dalliance with a subordinate (which he has denied).
Never one to mince words, he laid out what the world airline industry wants,
- Fewer restrictions that limit air travel
- Taxpayer subsidies
He is absolutely correct to argue that Covid-19 is everywhere, and that except for the small handful of nations that truly have zero Covid there’s little effect from travel as such. I’d caveat that precautions need to be taken in places that risk overwhelming their health care capacity, but travel bans aren’t among the more effective interventions to take.
Walsh though takes the matter further and wants the world to recognize any vaccine approved by the World Health Organization (Sinovac Coronavac!). He wants no restrictions for those vaccinated, antigen tests for the unvaccinated, and taxpayers rather than travelers to pay for testing.
The theme that government should pick up the tab for everything continues in his argument that airports shouldn’t seek to charge airlines more to make up for their pandemic losses. Instead of user pays he prefers picking taxpayer pockets. Where airports are owned by governments, such as in the U.S., he believes:
It is owned by the government. In the same way airlines go to their shareholders to raise additional equity or the debt market to raise debt, airports should be required to do the same.
Airports in the U.S. of course got multiple rounds of bailouts in some cases many times their annual budgets. Indeed, Dallas – Fort Worth has a better balance sheet than American Airlines.
Walsh notes that airlines around the world received $243 billion in government support during the pandemic ($79 billion was direct to U.S. airlines, but this doesn’t include airports or contrators). However he complains that a third was for ‘payroll support’ (in the U.S. that was mostly in reality for shareholders and creditors) and that $110 billion is loans. The audacity in not making it all outright handouts!
The world airline lobby shop IATA wants fewer restrictions on travel, and more government money. Where they’re right on the merits it’s because it’s in their own interest, and when they’re wrong on the merits it’s because they’re pursuing their own interests. And no one does this as unabashedly at current IATA head Willie Walsh.
I couldn’t agree more that airlines should be subsidized by the same morons who have caused all this virus hysteria Whatever revenue they’ve lost should be handed over to them by the government. The politicians and bureaucrats get a paycheck every two weeks, so they’ve run wild over the last horrible months Makes no difference to them if hard-working Americans can’t feed their kids. I’ll not get on a plane again until I don’t have to wear a mask. Sure, the airlines have my money, LOTS of my money, but think what more money I could give them if I could fly again in comfort? I’m always glad see a little ray of sunshine when it comes to the future. God knows we need it.
Wow. Just wow. I’ve never had much respect for Walsh, viewing him as an idiot but this is impressive even for him. Using what passes for logic by him, if an airport is government owned then the government should pay for testing then privately owned airports like LHR should step up to pay for testing as well. Has he actually consulted with the owners of LHR before volunteering them for such an expense?
Then there’s the fact that in places like the USA he feels that taxpayers should just pay up to airlines. Again. Why on earth should the non-traveling public subsidize people who choose to travel? Walsh is just out to lunch.
Travel restrictions are an effective pandemic response measure as they have the massive public signaling effect that helps to make sure that more people get it into their head that there is a public health emergency and they should take it seriously.
By now, it’s probably a lost cause on the bulk of the pandemic-deniers, pandemic-downplayers, and self-professed libertarians who assume that it’s good enough that they were vaccinated or previously infected and thus society should “just let it rip” through the community and the rest of the world.
Suffice it to say that there is disagreement within the IATA members as well as to the “more subsidies” position adopted. However, Willie’s job is to be the mouthpiece for the membership as a whole and he is doing a pretty good job in that role so far.
Border closures and travel bans are blunt instruments that should be used as short term measures to buy time towards an achievable long-term solution. Using them as a measure during increased infection periods or while awaiting higher vaccination rates is sub-optimal, but understandable. Continuing with them for political reasons without a clear end game is only going to backfire on the politicians themselves in the long term.
was interesting
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