Mid-Year Aerospace and Air Transport July 2020 REPORT PUBLICATIONS « Images of Farnborough International Airshow 2018 merged with a computer highlight the challenges facing show organizers during the Covid-19 pandemic while heralding the creativity that went into this year’s FIA Connect event, conducted entirely online. ILLUSTRATION: GRZEGORZ RZEKOS ILLUSTRATION: Pandemic Aero industry assembles online Airlines dealing with Covid cuts › page 6 by Charles Alcock Sustainability This week should have seen more than restrictions, and widespread fear of travel levels until 2024. The company believes that SAF and hydrogen may 80,000 aviation industry professionals and human interaction itself. the civil aerospace sector has just about got- assemble for the Farnborough International Perhaps the clearest assessment came ten through the crisis-management phase, power the future › page 8 Airshow, but instead they found themselves from the Roland Berger consultancy, which characterized by painful cost-cutting and reflecting on where the Covid-19 pandemic, this week issued a report envisioning no job losses. Manufacturing which triggered its cancellation, has left the prospect of airline capacity returning to 2019 continues on page 26 aerospace business. The online FIA Connect Smart factories forging event provided that opportunity, and on the page 18 foreheads of about 150 panelists in more a digital path› than 70 webinars it was easy to visualize the burning questions on their minds: how bad Tempest a game-changer Mobility will this crisis be, when will it start getting EmbraerX flies eVTOL better, what will the dreaded “new normal” by David Donald look like, and what steps do my colleagues simulator › page 20 and I need to take to get there? Speakers at a series of FIA Connect webi- to not only make the Tempest FCAS a The consensus was refreshingly candid, nars this week have underlined the revolu- “system-of-systems,” capable of defeat- Diversity built on an expectation that the industry tionary way in which the Tempest program ing the threat and successfully achieving needs to dig in for a recovery more chal- partners have undertaken development of a desired effects in future operations, but one Panel aims to welcome lenging than other crises in living memory, future combat air system (FCAS), as well as achieved with maximum development and page 28 including the first Gulf War, 9/11, the finan- its significant effects on the national skills manufacturing efficiency to reduce costs women › cial crisis of 2008, and the SARS epidemic. base, economy, defense industrial capabili- and development times to around half of Panelists used the term “perfect storm” ties, and the ability of air forces to maintain what can be achieved traditionally. Emissions more than once to describe the grim con- an operational advantage. “We need a game-changer, we need Net-zero seeks carbon fluence of steep economic downturn, pub- The program is adopting new processes new approaches,” said Dave Holmes, lic health emergency, government travel and new ways of approaching challenges continues on page 26 cuts by 2050 › page 46 warned that a failure to agree to accept- Airbus and Leonardo bosses able terms for future trading relations could cause serious complications. “We know there is an additional challenge voice Brexit concerns from a hard Brexit and we don’t like it,” said Faury. by Charles Alcock Adding that the French and German Alessandro governments have been quick to provide Profumo, Senior leaders from European aero- high levels of support for the aerospace Leonardo CEO space groups Airbus and Leonardo on industry during the Covid crisis, Faury July 20 expressed concern about working expressed hope that the UK government arrangements with British companies in would follow suit. “We have been able to “We have 10,000 people in the UK, the event that the Brexit transition period count on a doubling in the money avail- including a big base for our helicopter ends with no trade deal agreed between able for research and development, and division, and my main worry is for the the European Union and the UK. One dif- Guillaume this represents a sustained effort for the people,” Profumo added. He said he wor- ficulty would likely center on the absence Faury, future of aviation,” he commented. “We ries that tightening UK immigration rules of a Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement Airbus CEO hope that the UK [aviation] ecosystem will prevent a free flow of talent needed (BASA), which is supposed to form part will be more innovative and competitive for companies across the continent to get of the Brexit settlement to allow for a and we see that this is high on the agenda the technical skills they need to support relatively smooth regulatory landscape has indicated that he is willing to let the of the UK government.” key programs. when the UK leaves the European Union UK complete its departure from the EU Leonardo CEO Alessandro Profumo However, Victoria Foy, CEO of Safran Aviation Safety Agency at the end of the without a deal, even if it means having to told the FIA Connect audience that a Seats GB, said that the Covid-19 pandemic transition period on Dec. 31, 2020. trade on standard World Trade Organiza- complete and balanced Brexit settlement has so far proved far more disruptive than Industry groups have continued to tion terms. is imperative to Europe’s aerospace sec- Brexit. “For us, the situation is really no express fears that the Brexit negotia- Speaking during the opening cere- tor, in which he sees the UK continuing different than it was pre-Brexit,” she com- tions could soon collapse, as the two mony for the online FIA Connect event, to play a leading role. “I am strongly in mented. “We are part of [France-based] sides apparently remain far apart in Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said that favor of an agreement even if it means Safran and they have invested in the UK by their expectations for a complex trade the France-based group very much wants postponement [of the Brexit transition buying our business and have invested more deal. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to keep working with UK partners, but period],” he said. in the company over the past two years.” Consumer confidence key to relaunching airline travel by Kerry Lynch Facing the unprecedented drop-off in However, a key to drawing travelers passengers during the Covid-19 pandemic, back will be confidence and communica- commercial aviation industry leaders tions, said Jack Goodwin, deputy director, must closely collaborate on technology, restart, recovery, and engagement unit cleanliness, and other means to reduce for the UK Department for Transport. health risks, increase passenger confi- The industry must overcome issues such dence, and facilitate the return of travel, as insurance for Covid and unexpected government and industry officials agreed. cancellations, Goodwin said. Recogniz- By June, airlines globally had cut back ing the importance of aviation to the their capacity by 75 to 85 percent, “a huge UK GDP, he said the government should Preventive measures in aircraft and airport environments are equally important to the proportion,” Oliver Wyman partner David endeavor to lift quarantines from various reassurance of passengers, an Oliver Wyman survey revealed. Stewart said during an FIA Connect 2020 countries to gradually open travel with- session on the relaunch of commercial out mandatory self- quarantines. Con- Such systems must provide an equiva- a number of key international aviation aviation on July 20. “The impact of the sumers must be reassured that travel is lent level of safety as measures taken on organizations have expressed more sup- Covid-19 pandemic on our aviation eco- safe again, he said. the ground, even if they take into account port for expansion, Ridgeway said. system has been unprecedented and dra- To provide that reassurance, industry other approaches, Delaney said. While Other areas to help in the airport matic. Now the industry has to prepare to leaders have begun collaborating on a basic social distancing might be helpful include kiosks to minimize the use of facilitate the recovery.” The industry needs multi-layered approach that looks at the on the ground, it is not a practical solu- cash, increased use of mobile applications to understand what drives consumer confi- travel experience from beginning to end, tion in the air, he added. But, stressing to help ease congestion points, and the dence. “The airlines need passengers to be the airplane and airport environments, the belief that aviation remains the saf- deployment of artificial intelligence to happy to travel,” Stewart said. and protection with the acknowledgment est form of transportation, he said other help in the gate areas to minimize expo- He noted surveys conducted by his of the possibility of passengers who may measures are effective, from the air fil- sure risks, she said. consultancy revealed passengers pointed be carrying the virus, said Mike Delaney, tration system to the use of masks, anti- Research further centers on ultraviolet to government regulation and restric- v-p and confident travel initiative leader microbial coatings, aircraft geometry, and technologies in the airplane to help kill tions as the biggest factor in decisions to for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. operational systems. harmful pathogens, but more needs to be travel. However, airline cleanliness was In the short term, airlines and airports Technology can play a significant factor explored on the effects on passengers and a top-three factor in passenger decision- have concentrated on cleanliness and in the recovery, said LeAnn Ridgeway, v-p airport materials, Ridgeway said. making. Passengers further rated the air- measures to enable passengers to fly again. of avionics and general manager of infor- The participants in the FIA Connect port environment as equally important in But focus must also center on preparing mation management services for Collins panel agreed that communication of all their travel decisions.