HOTLIST 2018
INDUSTRY INFLUENCERS
CHRIS GRAYLING, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR TRANSPORT WHILE OPINIONS ARE DIVIDED ON CHRIS GRAYLING, we decided to include him for a second year running for his part in several headlines this year – HS2, major infrastructure projects, the several rounds of public consultation on the expansion at Heathrow. And let’s not forget his move to call out Monarch owner Greybull Capital over reports that the company might make a profit from the airline’s failure after the government footed a £60 million bill to repatriate passengers. Greybull eventually pledged to help pay that bill with any profit made from the sale
of Monarch’s assets. If it holds true to its promise, Grayling’s actions could save taxpayers money. It’ll be interesting to see how Grayling handles the Heathrow situation, with a parliamentary vote on the final proposal due at some point in the first half of this year.
LORD ADONIS, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE COMMISSION LORD ADONIS HAS BEEN VOCAL on the proposed expansion at Heathrow, saying that delays in making a final decision are “sacrificing national welfare”. He has helped bring many issues to the fore, including his warning that the UK risks everything after Brexit if it cannot sort out access to emerging markets, which can only happen with investment in the UK’s aviation infrastructure. As a non-executive director on the contentious HS2 project, Adonis has become a figurehead for developing the UK’s rail network. The National Infrastructure Commission has also made headway in transportation – the government committed £1.7 billion for the Transforming Cities Fund, £45 million to repair 900,000 potholes and a total of £89 million for a digital rail upgrade and in-cab signalling in the autumn budget alone, as well as £7 billion earmarked for regional transport links.
IATA’S NDC TEAM IATA APPROVED NEW DISTRIBUTION CAPABILITY (NDC) way back in 2012 and it has been talked about – a lot – in the more than five years since. But 2017 brought a lot of news on the subject, with the likes of Travelport, Click Travel and HRG achieving IATA’s Level 3 certification status. Programme leaders Yanik Hoyles, Eric Leopold and Olivier Hours have taken NDC from a theory discussed at trade shows to a fully fledged concept that will see tangible content flowing through travel channels as early as this year. It’ll be interesting to see how the initiative progresses as more airlines, TMCs and IT providers become NDC-compliant, especially with the likes of BA and Iberia showing commitment to NDC through its negotiations with TMCs. Some say NDC has the potential to revolutionise the travel industry as much as the GDSs initially did nearly 60 years ago.
DARA KHOSROWSHAHI, CEO, UBER CONTROVERSY ON THIS YEAR’S LIST continues with Dara Khosrowshahi, who left Expedia to join Uber in August last year only to be faced with challenge after challenge. His statements following Transport for London’s decision to revoke Uber’s private hire licence could be seen as pandering, but you have to admire his ability to put his hand up and admit the company has made several mistakes in its history. Rather than reacting in anger, he approached TfL to work with it “to make things right”. When, just weeks later, he revealed a massive data breach had occurred in 2016, he
again had the guts to say that what the company did at the time was wrong, despite not being involved himself. His tactic of finding those responsible for the cover-up and their subsequent resignations could help Uber save face, but he has a hard task ahead of him.
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BBT January/February 2018
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