The long running saga of the Airbus A400 moves slowly to what seems to be the only logical conclusion which is that the customers will have to cough up much more for considerably less. Various spokespersons for the interested parties have been talking tough but taking it all together there seems no other logical outcome. The customers particularly France and Germany have no other viable alternative and international affairs are moving in the direction of more and more requirements for foreign powers to intervene in global situations requiring massive airlift. If for instance Germany were to not go ahead with the a400 acquisition it would face enormous cost to refurbish its current fleet and still end up with a very much inferior product. The issue then seems to be simply one of who will cop how much of the cost overruns. Certainly there seems to be something systemic about the cost over runs as almost no modern aviation program has been finished on time and on budget. This is something which surely the responsible parties know and can plan for so one wonders if it is not just a game of very high stakes poker. Read more…
What do we look back on. Fuel shocks, peak oil, environmental concerns, civilian space travel, the spread of mass air transport, innovation, war, the rise of killing airborne Robots and terrorism. 9/11 was perhaps the most riveting and defining moment of the last decade with the most wide spread consequences. It was focusing and a watershed and yet its seeds were being sown for many of the preceding years. Osama wrought much more than he knew and we have not yet learned all that we must from this single event. To me one of the central facts is that air travel is not like anything else. It is perhaps outside electronic communications one of the most pivotal of world activities. While people are people there will be those who would do harm and those who would protect. Maybe the aviation community needs to be even more proactive than it has been in exploring the development and administration of aviation. Watching the rise and fall of airlines some of them state supported and others not (with the relevant states breathing many sighs of relief that they are not involved) it is tempting to conclude that some sort of stabilizing interventions at a multinational level are increasingly called for. Meaningful Dialogue between the players would be a good start.
Happy new year to all.
I was wondering what were the most important developments of the Decade. So perhaps for starters I will ask all those out in the blogosphere. What has been the essence of it all for the world, the West, the East and the developing world? In Oz it has been as usual a hectic end of the year but not too much pivotal stuff in the last month of Aviation. In the decade, lots of stuff but still sorting it out. Efficiency, Security (much madness still about) the end of piloted planes etc. Much to think about. More to come. Tell me your thoughts.