The gospel according to John Robson, delivered during the recent International Air Transport Association (IATA) Annual General Meeting in Dallas, Texas, did not provide much succour to the vast majority of assembled airline executives.
Robson, a former Chairman of the now-defunct United States Civil Aeronautics Board, advocated that the current bilateral air services regime should be replaced by a more liberalised system governed by market forces.
He recommended – subject to legitimate safety and security considerations – freedom for airline managements to determine market entry or exit, fares, frequency and capacity; no limitations on beyond rights, cabotage, marketing or distribution; and no restrictions on cross-border investment in aviation. There were those, he said, who fiercely opposed liberalisation because they feared the prospect of open competition.
The view of many airline delegates present was that if market forces were allowed to prevail – and ‘might’ became ‘right’ – then the life expectancy of numerous carriers around the world, including several in Africa, would be sharply reduced.
As Sir Harry Tirvengadum, the Chairman of Air Mauritius, rightly remarked during the recent Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, organised by AFRICAN AVIATION, not all airlines have “the muscle and means to compete.”
Ideally, any changes introduced should be fair to both the strong and the weak. But they may not necessarily be so. “The forces of the market will ultimately prevail,” said Robson, with the comforting knowledge that he is likely to be on the winning side.