ALAN JOYCE CHAIRMAN AND RICHARD ANDERSON CHAIRMAN ELECT, IATA THE INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION (IATA) changes its chairman in mid-year, so Alan Joyce and Richard Anderson – the CEOs of Qantas and Delta Air Lines respectively – will both have a major say on air transport issues in 2013. Joyce, whose aviation career has included leadership roles at Aer Lingus, Ansett and Jetstar, will be succeeded by Anderson – who has previously worked with both Northwest and Continental – at IATA’s AGM in June. The two will, therefore, share responsibilities for what IATA director-general Tony Tyler calls “our ambitious agenda over the next year”.
Crucially, that includes “developing the
foundation standards for a new distribution capability”. Currently, around 40 per cent of air ticket sales are made through airline websites. Airlines can identify individual passengers and their spending habits, and offer them additional or enhanced serviced based on previous purchases. Travellers who book through other channels, however, remain a mystery to the airlines. Agents and TMCs argue that they make their money by providing a customer service based on the data they collect and collate; it makes no commercial sense to pass on that data to the airlines, who could then – in theory – bypass them. Joyce and Anderson have a major sales job on their hands.
MICHAEL ROBERTS CHIEF EXECUTIVE, ATOC THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE of the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) has to deal with the Department for Transport, the Office of Rail Regulation, Network Rail, various consumer watchdog organisations, and a host of other bodies, all the while looking after the interests of a membership made up of 24 train operating companies.
And every time there is a fare increase, a drop in on-time performance, a signal failure or the wrong kind of snow, guess who gets it in the neck? Michael Roberts’ job is not for the faint- hearted. However, in the four years since he moved from the Confederation of British Industry into the ATOC hot-seat, Roberts has transformed the organisation. In an industry which attracts a clamour of complaints, he has become the voice of reason.
Increasingly, that voice is being heard, and listened to, by rail’s policymakers – and could have real and positive implications for the future.
TONY TYLER DIRECTOR GENERAL, IATA SPEAKING AT the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) 2012 World Passenger Symposium in Dubai, director-general Tony Tyler announced portentously: “Travel agents, airports, air navigation service providers, regulators, manufacturers, ground service providers, GDSs and many others must work together to make each passenger journey as safe, secure, seamless and convenient as possible.” To many in the corporate travel sector – particularly TMCs – IATA’s idea of ‘working together’ is rather different from everyone else’s. Tyler, like Alan Joyce and Richard Anderson, has his work cut out to convince them otherwise. Among Tyler’s nominators is Ajaya Sodha, chairman of both Key Travel and the GTMC, who begrudgingly acknowledges the director general’s (not necessarily benign) influence. “Tony Tyler,” he said, “is still the main person who can wreak havoc on the TMC community and the corporate travel sector if he so chooses.” To be fair, as well as IATA’s controversial
New Distribution Capability, Tyler does have a couple of user-friendly initiatives to promote as well. IATA’s one-stop airport screening idea, Checkpoint of the Future, and the Fast Travel proposal that would allow passengers more control, for example, by allowing them to print out their own baggage tags at home, should be a lot easier to sell.