Aviation-Event 2019 review

Aviation experts from all over the world convened at Aviation-Event 2019 in Salzburg on 6 June 2019, to exchange views on current challenges facing the aviation industry.

Salzburg (6 June 2019) – This year‘s edition of Aviation-Event once again brought international executives from the aviation industry together. They discussed the conference topic „Challenges of Growth“ from a variety of angles. Representatives of international airlines, managing directors of airports, politicians and consultants, travel and hotel operators held some very intensive discussions at the event. Passengers and media representatives meanwhile contributed an ‚outside view‘. According to Ms Bettina Ganghofer, CEO of Salzburg Airport and host of this year‘s Aviation-Event, the European aviation industry is facing – and meeting – numerous challenges: borderless travel and the global networking of countries and continents are highly advantageous, yet they require suitable suitable and appropriate standards that are acceptable to society.

Aviation-Event attendees emphasised that politicians, society and the aviation industry need to pull together. The opportunities provided by data processing and data analysis play a major role in this context: what do customers want? What can be done to optimise processes, making them more powerful and efficient? Discussions also focused on growth potential: what role will low-fare airlines play in the future? How will they have to change? Do smaller and regional airlines still have a chance? Or should they be seen as the real engines of growth? A further key issue was the question surrounding impact of further growth on an industry already battling excess capacity, lack of personnel, as well as delays. Of course, sustainability and a CO2 tax were also covered.

Experts were unanimous that air travel is one of the key pillars of modern society – whether private or – especially – business travel is concerned, and concerning both passenger aviation and cargo. Enhanced infrastructure will be necessary, particularly in the context of sustainability and environmental protection. In the meantime, development

of improved or alternative propulsion is in full flow. Future traffic flows will move away from roads, with rail and air travel dominating individual travel between cities and countries, whilst e-mobility will cover micro-distances. For Bettina Ganghofer, the Aviation-Event was a clear success: „Numerous high-profile experts from the aviation industry, as well as from politics and manufacturing industry, came to Salzburg in order to discuss the most important current topics.

Both panel discussions and face-to-face meetings inspired a great variety of new insights and provided new impulses.“ For Marcel Riwalsky, organiser of the Aviation-Event, Salzburg Airport was the perfect location: „Instead of meeting somewhere in the countryside, experts discussed right on the spot, inside the airport terminal. This provided for a particularly authentic atmosphere, which certainly contributed to very inspiring discussions here in Salzburg.“ Mr Riwalsky saw his view affirmed that whilst civil aviation can bring peace and is without alternative in terms of ecological impact, it is not always accepted and has to fight on several fronts: „Unfortunately, in many industrialised countries, there is a lack of acceptance by society for aviation as an infrastructural investment.

Moreover, the fact that requirements for flight operations, which diverge massively on an international comparison – comprising pay, social standards, taxation, subsidies, residual monopolies, as well as operational restrictions – lead to increasing competitive distortions. Without doubt, these issues and many other topics will be discussed at the next Aviation-Event in 2020.“ As announced at today‘s conference, next year‘s Aviation-Event will take place at Vienna Airport.