More and more flights, less and less planes and professional staff!
CONDITION REGULAR OR MAYBE NOT?
Here we are already in the middle of July, when it’s time to summarize the first impressions of the business, to prove the correctness of the strategies set in all branches, both in the auto industry, football as an industry that we still think of as the most important secondary thing in the world, and in the framework of civil aviation .
The forecasts of the competent bodies at that moment, although inexpertly made up, were not rosy, while the tones of reality were clearly on the dark side of the spectrum, so it is logical that even the results achieved so far cannot be too bright.
And here we are now at the very beginning of the strongest peak of the summer season, when you can draw a line and measure the passing time after three months of warming up, that is, exactly at the halfway point of this kind of race, which in aviation is called the summer flight schedule.
Perhaps it is better to say that we are at the very end of the hope that lessons have been learned from previous years and that the result will be at the level of the set goals. Unfortunately, it won’t, all the trends are almost identical to last year.
There are more and more flights, not enough planes and professional staff, flight delays and cancellations have now turned from crisis mode to status mode.
Low-budget carriers are increasingly dominating despite the total absence of desire to make air travel comfortable for their customers, who, not so long ago, a well-known company called guests.
Here, of course, the Irish Ryanair must be highlighted as the absolute leader in almost all categories, but in the very European (and regional) top are the Hungarian Vizer, as well as the British Easyjet, which inherit a similar business model.
Those other, once stable, traditional companies growl in disharmony with the new times and new rules, and it sometimes seems that they have opted for a quiet death (but with style). The only bright spot on that side is the Turkish national company which still looks very decent and offers better service than its natural competitors. For the sake of truth, it must be said that the functioning of that company is at a different level of transparency compared to other big players like Lufthansa, British, KLM… which are subject to much stricter control by the regulator regarding the permitted way of financing according to EU rules.
The largest airports in Western Europe have continued their poor performance from last year, apparently they are under-recruiting or providing poor-quality training – most likely both. Passengers are still late for flights through no fault of their own, lose connections, nerves and luggage.
At the former hubs that ruled almost monopolistically for decades, savings measures in manpower and equipment (equally both in quality and quantity) can be seen very clearly. As an example, I will cite the famous Skiphall in Amsterdam, which replaced all airport-branded buses for transporting passengers to remote parking positions with a much cheaper Chinese model (which, by the way, is building a factory in the neighborhood), while Chinese air bridges (so-called fingers) have been used by a large number of European airport operators for years. .
Those smaller, secondary airports are buckling under the blackmail of low-budget companies supported by local politicians who realized that, for the next mandate, it is better to employ the people than to pay them social assistance from the budget (they could have asked Tito, at least it wasn’t a secret).
Instead of social benefits, taxpayers’ money is directed in various ways to attract low-budget companies.
In the end, we have a totally absurd reality – airline companies, instead of paying for ground handling, make a profit not on the sale of airline tickets, which should be the basis of business, but on subsidies from local governments, tourist boards and the collection of so-called additional services.
By additional services, they mean completely normal things such as luggage, seat selection, modest refreshments during the flight, that is, everything that was once included in the price of the ticket.
Airports, instead of making a living from their work and providing services, make a living from renting out commercial spaces and parking lots.
Local self-governments are satisfied, workers do not even sit in betting shops during their shift, and who cuts the hair of passengers when they want to fly for small money.
Pilots and air traffic controllers are on the front line and really do their best, they work at the maximum number of revolutions, they spend their brain and body very often beyond acceptable limits, so that the fear for their own health (and life) slightly overpowered the desire for more but with good earnings.
Of course, young generations are also watching all of this, so no one is surprised anymore why there is a lack of competition for these attractive jobs.
A new time has come, so young people will not go into aviation, nor into the very attractive IT sector, which could clearly be seen in the current enrollment statistics at Belgrade University, where some new, forgotten professions are in vogue.
Until just a few years ago, the ratio of 20 or more registered candidates for one offered position in competitions that involved self-financing of overpriced aviation training, and now competitions are repeated due to a small number of registered candidates and without any obligation to pay. Passing criteria are being lowered more and more, which further reduces the chances of successful training. As a result, staff succession is going very badly and forecasts for the next period are very worrying.
The race for profit has given rise to new materials that are incorporated into aircraft components, especially aircraft engines, and all of this would be natural and fairytale-like if such super-efficient machines did not break down to the extent that some companies grounded up to 20 percent of the total fleet.
Many companies are forced to cancel already sold-out flights due to lack of aircraft or crew
The only way to minimize the damage is to hire another company to fly on their behalf. Such a way of extracting chestnuts is very expensive and does not guarantee quality or the maintenance of the company’s reputation, for which generations of employees fought.
To all this, objective circumstances that cannot be influenced, such as extremely bad weather conditions during May and June, where one part of Europe has been turned into a capsule of high temperatures, where super-cell storms occur in waves, and another part of Europe where summer is not it didn’t even arrive.
Of course, the restrictions caused by the current war in Ukraine certainly do not help, especially in our region where the airspace allowed for commercial flights has been transformed into a shape that resembles a narrow funnel.
And all of the above is more or less known and somehow tacitly accepted, the new reality has grown into a regular state (I can’t do without JNA phraseology) until the other day when an unexpected blow arrived, some would say below the belt:
Namely, the final preparations for the exclusive vacations of the overpaid Euro-bureaucrats were spoiled by none other than the controversial director of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary. In the middle of June, he sent a strong criticism, first of all, to the President of the EC and her retinue in charge of aviation in depth. All this happens in moments of careful waiting or celebration of the white smoke of re-election and confirmation of new mandates (after which you can take a well-deserved rest), when the devil is not lying down…
About a month ago, the agencies urgently transmitted the following under the label:
Ryanair today (14 June) called for urgent action by the EU Commission and European Governments to arrest the alarming deterioration in Europe’s ATC services during the months of May and June and prevent a full meltdown of ATC services this summer.
In my loose translation it would be something like this – Enough is enough Ursula change the air traffic control system or yourself.
Now we can debate whether he, O Lira, is the most suitable person for such an attack in a moral or ethical sense.
A man who runs a predatory company, which blackmails bankrupt airports, corrupt politicians and exploits its employees to make huge profits for its well-hidden financiers.
However, it must be admitted here that he is first of all telling the truth. It has long been no secret that the air traffic management system in Europe costs twice as much as in America, and brings twice as little efficiency.
Second, Ryanair is the company that has the most flights in Europe, so it is also the main financier of the entire system and therefore has every right to criticize and protect its interests. Thirdly, the transporters, through their legitimate representatives, have been making similar criticisms towards European officials for more than a decade, and they always receive assurances that the next season will be better (the situation is regular).
The existing executors are worn out and exhausted to the limit without visible progress, the selectors have received their new mandates and there is every opportunity to work on the strategy. If there is no such thing, more radical measures will have to be taken. Of course, before that, with all the stress and accumulated fatigue, it is necessary to somehow manage until November. And then I guess the situation won’t be regular again – or I’m an insincere optimist again.
Text: Bruno Genal, air traffic controller and flight control instructor
Photo: Archives, Luka Skorić, B.Gen
Source: vrelegume.rs
