Growth, Capacity, Punctuality - Air Transport’s 3rd degree equation !!!!

I should start by saying I could have easily expanded the scope and complexity of this Article into to 4th, 5th, or 6th degree, by including passenger expectation, environment, culture into the equation, but I decided to keep it as 3rd degree, for the sake of simplicity.?

Mathematics prove whenever one changes the value of any individual variable of a 3rd degree equation, it affects the balance between the other two.

With that in mind, it needs to be accepted that, no matter how much effort airspace and airport owners have done to improve capacity (and we know much is still to be done) the laws of physics are implacable:

“Two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time".

During?IATA’s?Wings of Change - Americas 2024, interesting discussions were held, on a number of issues, intrinsically related to the roots of air transport 3rd degree equation:

• While in US and Canada, “flights per capita” is in the range of?2.6/year, this number in Latin America is as low as?0.5/year - great potential for?growth, say our colleagues at airlines and tourism organizations.
• As traffic volume grows (and so do airport congestions), dramatic environmental impact is reported and millions of dollars are expected to be invested, in the development and production of?SAF?(Sustainable Aviation Fuels)
• Turning our attention to passengers’ expectations, while in US “one out of 1.2 million passengers” raises legal demands against airlines, in Brazil this number is as high as “one out of 227 passengers”.?It looks like passengers′ expectations (punctuality?being the most critical), have been erroneously set, in the region.

Each individual aspect of air transport activity affects a wide range of variables, as growth, capacity, punctuality and the industry will be always eager to develop solutions to either solve problems or seize opportunities,?as reported by their potential customers.

The only problem is that most of the needs and opportunities identified in air transport industry are assessed under a simplistic approach - as 1st degree equations, leading to a single root.

• Advertising and tax reduction to increase demand !
• Cleaner fuels to reduce environmental impact!

And what about capacity, punctuality, and so forth ??

Many regions have historically opted for ignoring ICAO?recommendations for improvement of airport capacity (Centralized Apron Management, adoption of?Surveillance Technologies, etc.).

The?Collaborative Air Traffic Flow Management, proposed by ICAO, over twenty years ago, to adjust demand to airspace/airport integrated capacity (thus reducing fuel burn and CO2 emission) has also been ignored.

And airlines continue in their rush for “on-time door close”, regardless of whether or not airport surface and airspace may efficiently accommodate their flights.

Linear thinking and glamorous 1st degree equations, will do nothing but draining time, energy and money.

A way more complex equation is still to be jointly and realistically addressed, by means of initiatives, which have been conceived... and then ignored.