The Future of Aviation (2022)

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29 Closing Remarks Mary Ellen Eagan, HMMH Rapporteur Mary Ellen Eagan provided closing remarks for the event, offering a summary of what she considered to be major takeaways derived from the following key ideas: 1. Inflection point: As the world is starting to emerge from the pandemic, we find ourselves in a position not unlike that at the end of World War II. This inflection point provides the aviation industry an opportunity to take stock as it thinks about the challenges of rebuilding the industry. It also provides an opportunity to reflect on lessons learned during the pandemic as well as the opportunity to make permanent some of the positive adaptations the industry made in response to COVID-19, for example, making more things touchless, virtual queuing, and remote work. 2. More collaboration: • The industry needs to collaborate across the sectors of airports, airlines, and regulators. • The industry needs to collaborate outside the sector to engage its neighbors and other transportation planners, utilities, climate planners, and government agencies. • The industry needs collaboration within its organizations. These are often stovepiped and could benefit from the perspectives of participants from other disciplines. For instance, meetings of the net-zero committee could benefit from the participation of IT staff who understand technical issues and can communicate them. 3. A frictionless journey should be the goal of the system: • Aviation is not primarily about airports but about people and about moving them and their goods from one place to another. It is useful to understand and internalize the notion that passengers and customers are the focus of the future of aviation. • How does the industry remove those points of friction that exist at every stage of the journey, from booking to aircraft and back home again? 4. Resilience: • The pandemic has made those in the industry understand the need to build redundancy into the system as well as the need to plan for events that may or may not happen. • The industry needs to bring that same attitude to thinking about climate challenges to make sure that the future is not something the industry envisions, but something the industry creates. 5. Flexibility: • Along with resilience, the pandemic provided a lesson about flexibility. The industry learned that it is possible to do many jobs from home. • Another lesson in flexibility the industry is starting to learn is about its workforce in the United States. The old trope that necessity is the mother of invention has driven the development of automated tugs because people were not available. However,

30 the discussions at the Insight Event also addressed the need to make sure that as jobs are replaced with automation, those workers are given training so that they can add more value to the system in higher-value jobs. 6. Inclusivity: • Along those lines, there is a need for the industry to think more broadly about the people who are needed to fill the jobs. This means that employers should not hire in their own image, but rather hire for required skills. The industry does not know what the need will be in the future, but it does know that the people who will be hired in the industry will need to be adaptable, will need to be digital natives, and will need to have excellent communication skills. • The industry should start engaging with students at all levels to interest them in the aviation industry. Eagan stated, “I am one of those people who fell into aviation as a career, but my husband can point to the very day he decided to become a pilot: July 20, 1969. Anyone remember what happened on that day? He was not quite 7 years old.” 7. Sustainability: Sustainability is a balance between the environment, the economy, and equity that will define much of the future of aviation. Audience members also offered the following comments: • Curt Fentress mentioned that it is essential to have human experience designers or passenger experience designers to “curate” a seamless experience for passengers. These designers will work with airports and architects to plan the infrastructure for a much better passenger experience. • Brian Cobb mentioned that using data to make decisions in airports is still new and rare, but important. • Agatha Kessler posed a questions about cybersecurity: What are airports doing to prevent cybercrime?