ERA's AGM takeaways

16 Oct 2024

Last week Mark Byrne, Director of Martyn Fiddler attended the ERA AGM (8 – 10 October) in Sevilla International Convention Centre at the Barceló Sevilla Renacimiento Hotel, Seville.

Here are Mark’s takeaways from the event:

As ever the ERA team put on a well organised and enjoyable show and even managed to find some locally appreciated, much needed rain. Attendance was up on 2023 with  374 delegates  representing 171 companies, including 40 airlines.

The opening keynote address was given by ERA’s President Jesper Rungholm of Danish Air Transport (DAT). Jesper, who has just turned 65, made an impassioned plea for EASA to change the mandatory retirement age of pilots, like him, from flying public transport aircraft while they remain physically and mentally fit. He argued that it was an arbitrary date that deprives the industry of skilled and experienced pilots. He made a point of pulling off his captain’s epaulets from his captain’s shirt as a piece of theatre during the address. I can well understand why he feels so strongly on the matter and particularly in an industry that generally follows science and careful risk management.

A session on common difficulties facing the industry resulted in a poll of the audience concluding that the two biggest challenges are continuing supply chain issues, and skills and labour shortages, each attracting a third of the votes cast. Both issues will be familiar to many both in and outside the aviation industry (at least we are not alone). Other familiar issues included sustainability at 12%, and the balance consisted of cost uncertainties, fuel costs and SAF availability, regulatory issues (including anti-tankering) and geopolitical issues all polling around 7%.

Wednesday finished with a fabulous awards dinner at the beautiful Hacienda El Vizir on the outskirts of Seville.The Airline of the Year award was won by Binter, the Canary Islands based airline, who were well represented at the event.

As usual the first session on Thursday featured an inspirational speaker; this year was the turn of Doug Manuel who literally had a jaded 09:00 audience on their feet dancing. It was a novel and uplifting interactive presentation that will stay long in the memory.

The final session was the Association’s AGM which is in good health and spirits.

The next ERA event will be the ERA Regional Airline Conference which will be held in (wonderful) Copenhagen on 19 & 20 March 2025. By way of a carrot to attend, Jesper Rungholm has offered a free return flight for delegates to the beautiful Danish island of Bornholm with DAT. I shall be in line for that and will also be getting my dinner reservations in early at some of Copenhagen’s fabulous restaurants.

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