Not Easy to Govern an Airline

There is a position that all ambitious airline employees dream of, that of Executive Chairman of an
airline. And yet, on reflection, is it such an enviable profession? The constraints both internal to the
company and related to its environment, in the midst of which it must evolve, can make life
impossible. Listing them is a real headache, but we can at least sketch the most conspicuous ones.

Ecology
Taking it into account has changed the air transport environment, which until now had to evolve by
focusing on its economy and safety. This is something to occupy the mind of any leader. We must
now add this new constraint which, without us really seeing it coming, is increasingly influencing the
ecosystem in which all carriers must operate. No exploitation programme can be envisaged without
taking this into account. It even influences the composition of fleets and of course the lines to be
served. And it will only increase in the years to come.

The unions
They are very powerful in this sector of activity. Antagonizing a category of staff can completely seize
an airline. However, corporations are varied and have different expectations. Of course, the pilots’
unions are by far the most powerful, so much so that in the not-so-distant past, United Airlines pilots
took the helm of the major American operator, with a disastrous result. No airline manager will
admit to doing without sometimes endless discussions with the unions because any of them,
including the most modest jobs, I am thinking of baggage handlers among others, can put their
company at a standstill.

Manufacturers
The almost endless growth of air travel is leading to a bottleneck for manufacturers. Airbus, for
example, delivered only 73 aircraft in September, a drop in the bucket compared to the 8,000 to
9,000 aircraft ordered. At this rate, it will take nearly 10 years of production to meet the demand and
during these ten years the manufacturer will receive several thousand additional orders. And there is
no chance for airlines to compensate for the European manufacturer’s delivery delays by turning to
Boeing, which is in a very difficult situation for quite some time. It should be added that engine
manufacturers are also unable to keep up with the production rate. It must be said that new devices
are more and more efficient and that they are more and more complex to build. In short, how can
you manage a medium-term operating program when you are unable to know the delivery dates of
the aircraft? This difficulty is not the least to be solved by the bosses of the companies

Controllers
At least in Europe, they are the terror of the operators. At any time and for any reason, they can go
on strike. However, in Europe there are many control centres: more than 40 and spread over the
various states that must be crossed to get from one point to another in this continent, which is
ultimately small, at least geographically. And each country has a different management of this wage
body, which means that the risk of disruption of operations is multiplied by the political and
economic conditions of each state. The United States has had to deal with such problems, but they
were brutally solved by President Reagan in the early 1980s. The European political situation is much
more complex.

The States
Governments cannot help but stick their noses into air transport and therefore very often into the
management and direction of airlines. They impose new constraints, often administrative, at their
leisure and they use this sector of activity to bring money into the public coffers without these
contributions being used to modernize air operations. We have also seen traffic rights granted to
carriers only to sell military equipment. And I’m not talking about the companies that are often
subject to transporting politicians for free or employing pseudo leaders to house friends.

In short, running an airline is certainly prestigious, intellectually very interesting, sometimes
financially comfortable, but it is certainly not a sinecure.