The Year 2019 In Aviation

2019 was a good year for airports, where China’s glittering Beijing Daxing International Airport and Singapore’s waterfall embellished jewel Changi opened.

by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne-2019-12-29

Writing from Montreal

 

In many ways, it is worthwhile to take a retrospective look at aviation in 2019. For one, 2019 marked some important milestones in aviation: the 100th anniversary of the Paris Convention relating to the regulation of aerial navigation, signed on October 13, 1919; the 90th anniversary of the Warsaw Convention for the unification of certain rules relating to international carriage by air, signed at on 12 October 1929; and the 75th anniversary of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention), signed on 7 December 1944. In this context, 2019 was truly a year of reflection and an inflexion point in which the specialized agency of the United Nations which addresses international civil aviation – The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) – was requested to take serious stock of its role which was seemingly lagging behind in its efforts to keep pace with the exponential evolution of the world and its adaptation to them as well as the lack of timely services that the Organization’s member States needed in the face of such rapid developments and changes.

 

 

At the 40th Session of the ICAO Assembly held from 24 September to 4 October 2019, a compelling working paper submitted by the United States at the Assembly noted that ICAO’s traditional business practices may not keep up with the rapid pace in which the aviation industry is developing. It therefore exhorted ICAO to deliver through transparency for inclusiveness and better decision making; a positive work environment for high performance; leveraging partnerships for a better future; demonstration that it delivers what Member States need on a timely basis and uses all available resources for the greatest benefit to Member States and the aviation sector in a cost-effective manner; and the expansion of resources for delivery.

 

This strong statement brings to bear the fact that ICAO’s internal procedures and practices are not delivering efficiently and should be changed, and its organizational culture should ensure that high standards are maintained so that the Organization could effectively carry out the work. For this, it was suggested that ICAO must make changes to its internal operating procedures and continually enhance the organizational culture so as to enable itself to implement the requirements of the Resolutions adopted by the Assembly, thus serving all 193 ICAO members more efficiently.

 

Another startling occurrence in 2019 was the Boeing 737 MAX saga. On 10 March 2019 a Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft of Ethiopian Airlines operating an international flight bearing number ET 302 crashed six minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 people aboard. This crash occurred just 5 months after October 2018 when, on 29 October, the Indonesian carrier Lion Air operated Flight 610 - a scheduled domestic flight operated from Soekarno–Hatta International Airport in Jakarta to Depati Amir Airport in Pangkal Pinang with the same type of aircraft, which crashed into the Java Sea 12 minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 passengers and crew.

 

During Flight ET 302 the captain of the flight had reported “flight control problems” to air traffic control shortly before the aircraft crashed. It is reported that the manufacturer Boeing issued a statement following the crash saying they would recommend the temporary global suspension of the entire 737 MAX fleet. Shortly after the crash fifty countries grounded or banned the planes inside their airspace.

 

It is believed that at the heart of the defect in the aircraft was a piece of computer application called MCAS, (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) which the pilots were unable to override. MCAS – a seemingly sophisticated piece of digital application - is meant to act as an automated safety feature on the 737 MAX 8 that is calculated to prevent the plane from entering into a stall or losing lift. The world grounded all 737 MAX aircraft that were serving around the globe. They still remain grounded. There were allegations against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) – the aviation regulator of the United States – that it was neglectful in dragging its feet on the grounding of the aircraft even after the second crash, not to mention the first crash of October 2018. Eventually, there appeared reports that the reintroduction of the aircraft into service would be delayed and that the CEO of Boeing has resigned.

 

The legal ramifications of these two accidents were significant. In June 2019 a pilot (who remained anonymous) brought an action in the courts on behalf of more than 400 colleagues against Boeing on the ground that Boeing “engaged in an unprecedented cover-up of the known design flaws of the MAX, which predictably resulted in the crashes of the two MAX aircraft and subsequent grounding of all MAX aircraft worldwide” …and “decided not to tell MAX pilots about the MCAS or to require MAX pilots to undergo any MCAS training" so that its customers could deploy pilots on "revenue-generating routes as quickly as possible".

 

On 26 March 2019, Richard Seeks – a Boeing shareholder – individually and behalf of others similarly situated, instituted in the United States District Court in the Northern District of Illinois, a federal securities class action against the Boeing Company on behalf of investors who purchased the securities of the Defendant (Boeing) between 8 January 2019 and 21 March 2019 . The plaintiff averred in limine. that Boeing (throughout the aforesaid period) put profitability and growth ahead of the safety of the aircraft and honesty. The plaintiff also claimed that Boeing misled investors about the sustainability of Boeing’s core business of commercial aircraft manufacturing by “touting its growth prospects and profitability, raising guidance, and maintaining that the Boeing MAX was the safest plane to fly the skies” . Another averment of the plaintiff was that Boeing had concealed the full scope of the safety problems brought to bear by the fixing of larger engines in the aircraft which effectively changed the handling characteristics of the aircraft from previous 737 models and increased the aircraft’s tendency to “pitch up”, which required special features.

 

Another serious allegation of the plaintiff was that Boeing had hidden from the investors the fact that it carried out its own inspections and tests without federal regulatory oversight which had been delegated to Boeing by the FAA, causing serious conflict of interest issues. The plaintiff also referred to the fact that the MCAS system was not even mentioned in the flight crew operations manual (FCOM). He claimed that Boeing had also withheld necessary safety features unless airlines purchased additional optional features – a move calculated to bring down cost with a view to competing with the Airbus A320Neo. In other words, the plaintiff emphasized that Boeing and its executives had known all along of the aircraft’s defects before the aircraft had been delivered to the customers.

 

On a more general note, 2019 had other negative outcomes: One of the largest travel agents which had been operating for decades – Thomas Cook – went bankrupt as did at least another 20 substantial commercial entities; The industry faced an unprecedented shortage of pilots and a new rhetoric called “flight shame” linking air transport to air pollution through aircraft engine emissions took off. This notwithstanding, more people than ever before travelled by air in 2019, with notably, QANTAS operating Flight QF7879 became the world's longest passenger flight by a commercial airline both for distance, at 17,800 kilometers (about 11,060 miles), and for duration in the air, at 19 hours and 19 minutes between London and Sydney.

 

2019 was a good year for airports, where China’s glittering Beijing Daxing International Airport and Singapore’s waterfall embellished jewel Changi opened. CNN reports: “Construction started in May on a new international airport at the mouth of Peru's Sacred Valley, home to the mountaintop citadel of Machu Picchu. The project has sparked opposition from those concerned about the impact on the surrounding landscape. A new $3.9 billion Delta terminal was unveiled at New York's unloved LaGuardia Airport, once compared by US presidential hopeful Joe Biden to a "third-world country." And finally, after a nine-year delay, more than 8 billion euros and thousands of complaints over budget and construction, Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt eventually announced an opening date: October 2020”.

 

As we tread a new decade in 2020, the aviation community must insist that entities in charge of the various aspects of the aviation industry – be it in air transport, airports or air navigation service providers or manufacturers - create more opportunities through connectivity with multiple stakeholders with a view to eliminating parochial interests, the greed for plaudits and status and feckless sluggishness. They must keep up with the evolving nature of aviation. A good start would be to have more focus on enabling their human resources to have a better realization of the sense of purpose and direction of their work and what their contribution is making towards delivery to clients served by their employer. Motivation of staff should be through a powerful position statement that clearly articulates strategic goals while ensuring that staff understands and embraces the employer’s purpose.

 

Dr. Abeyratne is Senior Associate, Air Law and Policy at Aviation Strategies International. Concurrently, he serves as Visiting Professor in Air Law and Policy at McGill University. Prior to his current engagements he was Senior Legal Officer and Coordinator, Air Transport at The International Civil Aviation Organization. Among his recent publications are Megatrends in Air Transport and Legal Priorities in Air Transport. His latest book, to be released shortly, is titled Aviation in the Digital World.