Tony Tyler at the Aviation Club

Formerly CEO of Cathay Pacific, IATA’s new Director-General Tony Tyler, pulled no punches in confronting the UK government on aviation policy and taking a side-swipe at the European Commission when addressing the Aviation Club last week.

“As the UK’s de facto current policy is to constrain capacity and milk the industry for taxes, there is plenty of scope for improvement…..things are going badly wrong and it would be disappointing if we did not seize the opportunity of a policy review to make them better and capture fully the positive impact that aviation can have economically and socially,” he said.

The national aviation policy discussion was a great opportunity to replace the “tax, regulate and restrict” policy of today with one that supported connectivity, jobs and economic prosperity with sustainable growth.

Tyler went on to criticise the European Commission on issues including the slot trading rules, emission tax and the  lack of progress on the Single European Sky.  “The modus operandi of the European Commission seems to be to set rules and regulate – whether it is needed or not – and never mind about any intended consequences,” he commented.  Heathrow came in for criticism too.  He called for a re-think on a “political cul-de-sac.” www.iata.org

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