Just over a month ago, the Paris Air Forum 2023 was held as a prelude to the Paris Air Show, about which Bertrand spoke to you a few weeks ago.

To sum up this tenth anniversary edition ? A much stronger recovery in commercial air transport than was expected at the start of the COVID-19 crisis.

Air transportation still has a very positive image

The opening of the forum by Augustin de Romanet, Chairman and CEO of the ADP Group, set the tone for the morning: “The only thing that matters is to prepare future generations and enable our children and grandchildren to continue traveling and discovering new cultures.

He introduced us to the Managing Director of IFOP, who came to present a study commissioned by La Tribune and ADP on the image of air transport in France and Europe.

It’s all about getting away from “airplane bashing”.

The image and representation of air transport is very positive, especially in Latin Europe, Italy and Spain. Nevertheless, 2/3 of French people think that air transport should be limited.

However, the French believe that the aeronautics sector is too often finger pointed and remains a transport of the future.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no generational divide, except perhaps in France: overall in Europe, young and more mature people alike think the same.

Europeans’ main expectation is nevertheless that of the sector’s ecological transition, notably through green fuels.

What’s worth remembering, though, is that the punitive approach is overwhelmingly rejected in future air transport “consumption”.

A very enlightening study, then, and one that reflects the lucidity of Europeans in relation to the over-communication on the topic at the moment.

Cyclical limits to air transport growth

A high-profile panel then debated the issue of growth in the sector, which seems to be limited by factors exogenous to simple demand (which itself seems very solid).

IATA Chairman Willie Walsh (ex-CEO of IAG, the parent company of British Airways and Iberia) stressed that summer 2023 will see a return to normal, but with traffic still 7% below 2019 levels in Europe, mainly due to supply chain concerns notably concerning spare parts for Airbus aircraft.

The aircraft manufacturer’s commercial director points to an intrinsic acceleration, but real difficulties in getting the supplier machine up and running again.

Emirates President Tim Clarke, on the other hand, says that he is not suffering from supply chain problems, and that they can keep up the pace of their aircraft retrofits as initially announced.

On the other hand, it is the subject of engines and their lack of reliability that all the airline representatives around the table agree on: durability is not there, and this is having a major impact on airline operations.

For Air India’s new CEO, Campbell Wilson, his problem is more to do with anticipating the explosion in traffic, as infrastructures are taking too long to develop.

Air transport for the new world

What a pleasure it is to see an honest executive: I had this pleasure with this amazing interview with Ben Smith, CEO of the Air France-KLM group, who was very frank during the day’s discussions.

His first observation: more Premium traffic than ever before, and a consequent need to adjust cabin configurations.

Air France benefits from growth opportunities superior to those of the competition, thanks to its Paris destination.

• On the subject of state aid, the CEO brushes it aside, pointing out that they have not made any redundancies, as this is linked to the French social model, and that the state remains a shareholder
• On the subject of European airline consolidation, he notes that a few players are still independent of any joint venture, notably ITA, SAS and TAP. He acknowledges that the latter two are opportunities that they are looking at very closely, especially TAP because of its position in Brazil, which interests the Group because of the possible synergies between their networks. He nevertheless deplores the slowness of the Portuguese authorities.
• On relations between Air France and KLM, Ben Smith points out that Air France-KLM was the first European group before LH Group and IAG, and that when two national airlines merge, there is emotion in the management, which they now manage to overcome.
• As for the Group’s relations with Amsterdam-Schiphol airport, he admits that he’s walking on thin ice and is furious with the Dutch authorities, whom he considers to be shooting themselves in the foot, as the government is a 14% shareholder in the Group. According to him, the group is working to remove these quotas.
• As for Turkish Airlines and its mega-order for 600 aircraft, the executive’s tongue-in-cheek approach is evident, as he cites a strong domestic market as the reason for the order. Don’t exaggerate…

Bottom line

A very well organized event, with top-flight speakers. And in the end, there was very little tongue-in-cheek.