There was much to discuss at the popular three-day event last week in Miami, with passenger traffic still only at 40% of pre-Covid levels and the incredibly difficult staffing situation engulfing the industry.
The first major issue to be tackled in the Big Debate on day 1 was entitled: How do we get our people back? – tackling the critical skills engulfing aviation across the Americas.
David Barker, Senior Divisional Vice President of Airport Operations at dnata started the debate and spoke candidly about the hiring challenge.
“I have been in aviation since 1987 and for 35 years, aviation has been a beautiful and wonderful career for me. Unfortunately, however, US aviation has taken a turn for the worse. Who would have thought before the pandemic that we would have a problem of hiring? Who thought it would not be an employers’ market coming out of the pandemic? So the question is, is the minimum wage a good or bad thing? I actually think that the living wage is killing aviation.
The minimum wage at Amazon and McDonalds is now the same wage as an aviation worker. So we, as a community, have a challenge. How do we make aviation a profession again? We have to raise the bar and create a career path back for the employee."
Larry Massaro, Senior VP of Aviation, Eulen America said: “What’s a fair minimum wage? You think you have the answer then 10 minutes later someone else comes along with a better answer and beats you by $10. There has got to be a way that we, as an airline community, can look at a right setting for all competitive wages and salaries.”
Mike Garland, Director Airport and Corporate Procurement, American Airlines said: “What can the community pay? We expect wages to normalise over a period of time and a bidding war doesn’t continue out there,” adding that airlines and handlers will have to learn to coexist alongside Starbucks and Amazon and offer incentives for employees so that they feel value and purpose while offering compensation in different forms to employees."
On day 2 the next panel discussion that followed was: Precious Cargo: Getting in trim for the great air cargo opportunity.
Robert Fordree, Executive Vice President – Cargo, Menzies Aviation, spoke about the significant growth opportunities happening in the cargo business, with the company now handling over 2 million tonnes of cargo.
He said: “The pandemic has really brought cargo into a really sharp focus from all airlines, and we are now having much more detailed conversations with airlines that haven’t really carried cargo previously. So it’s really exciting for us. We see that passenger freighters are set to continue for the foreseeable future and are seeing aircraft configurations being changed as well. But we don’t see ‘cargo loaded on seats’ phenomenon that’s been happening over the last couple of years continuing long term as it is just not viable.”
Electrifying the ramp
Richard Reno, CEO of TLD, presented the latest innovations around battery technologies for GSE and how airports in the Americas are developing charging infrastructure and tendering hydrogen GSE where supported.
He said Santiago Airport in Chile is set to be the first in Latin America, which will be capable of receiving and supplying hydrogen-powered aircraft. While hydrogen will play a role on the ramp, Reno said Li-ion will dominate the energy landscape for some time yet. “The transition [from ICE to electric] won’t happen overnight…it took 50 years for refrigerators to become the ‘norm’,” he told delegates. “Our fleet took over 30 years to build, it won’t be replaced in two.”
The next panel discussion was on Sustainability: Stepping up to the challenge in the Americas.
Monika Piwowarczyk, Chief Operating Officer, Arajet said: “If we can limit our turnaround time by 10 minutes, the impact on the environment would be massive – meaning on a daily basis around the world approximately 100,000 flights are being operated. 100,000 flights being reduced in the turnaround time by 10 minutes saves 1,000 tonnes of fuel. 1,000 tonnes of fuel can be reduced just by the simple fact of cutting down our turnaround time, meaning 250 flights could be operated per day without any footprint if we only lowered the turnaround time by 10 minutes."
On the 3rd day it was dedicated to Latin America under the theme: Putting the jigsaw back together again. Ruben Atehortua Sandoval, Head of Cargo Operations DWC, dnata said: “Latin America is a very exciting market in terms of the amount of people that we have and the amount of companies that we have there, combined with North America it’s a huge market,” he said. “It is part of the emerging markets because we have a middle-class which is growing and they want to spend money.”
2019 passenger numbers are forecast to be surpassed in 2023 for Central America (102%), followed by South America in 2024 (103%) and the Caribbean in 2025 (101%).
More than 500 delegates attended the conference from 29-31 March - the highest ever attendance in the Americas conference.
Attendees were bowled over by the high quality delivery of the conference and praised the organisers.
Tim Taylor, Director of Business Development, Wollard International said: “It’s gone beyond my expectations of a trade show. The team has been extraordinary in going the extra mile to ensure that I had the opportunity to meet the people that I came to see. This event has so much more intentionality than I have ever experienced elsewhere.”
View here to watch the conference highlights video.
