A New Generation of Disruptors is Planning to Redefine Air Travel

Resumen

The commercial air transport industry is facing a defining period and whichever way you look change is on the horizon. Technological, digital and engineering advancements are reshaping almost every industry on the planet, and the air transport sector (and the wider travel industry for that matter) is no exception. The passenger is at the core of our 2050 thinking. Over the last four decades the real cost of travel has fallen by about 60% and the number of travelers increased tenfold. We must continue to provide this great value to individual consumers and to society. To do so we need the right technology, efficient and sufficient infrastructure. And we need financial sustainability. Nobody has all the answers or a crystal ball to see the industry in 2050. But there was consensus among all present that there is strategic value in thinking together. And there was general consensus that one of the industry’s biggest challenges is to evolve from the financial disaster of a partial deregulation that has created fierce competition among airlines but without giving them the normal commercial freedoms to do business. The industry is sick. To protect the value that aviation delivers to consumers, companies, countries and the global economy, we need a common vision to change as we move forward.