Keynote Dinner Address

Mr Raymond Lim Siang Keat
Minister for Transport & Second Minister for Foreign Affairs

Mr Roberto Kobeh González
President
Council of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)

Mr Giovanni Bisignani
Director General and CEO
International Air Transport Association (IATA)

Battling the Crisis
The world’s airlines will lose US$11 billion in 2009 with an unprecedented 15% revenue drop that will see industry revenues shrink by US$80 billion to US$456 billion. 2009 marks the close of 10 challenging years of an aviation Decennis Horribilis. Between 2000 and 2009, airlines lost US$49.1 billion, an average of US$5 billion a year.

There are signs of improving demand. But there is a lot of ground still to recover. Rising fuel costs and the lack of any significant improvement in yields are a continuing disaster. Airlines will remain firmly in the red in 2010 with US$5.6 billion in losses.

Conserving cash, controlling costs and carefully matching capacity to demand remain the keys to survival. This will require the whole industry – airlines, airports, manufacturers, the financial industry – to work together. This panel brings together key players to discuss the strategies for surviving the industry crisis.

Post COP15 – where do we go from here?
The Copenhagen Accord is an important step in the right direction for climate change. Aviation emissions were not addressed specifically in the Accord, a reflection of the pro-active measures the industry has taken to set challenging targets for itself, together with an aggressive strategy to achieve them.

The aviation industry is committed to achieving carbon neutral growth by 2020 and a 50% absolute reduction in carbon emissions by 2050. A global sectoral approach supported by tough targets is the only sensible way forward for a global industry. This panel will discuss the next steps to achieve these tough targets, and a global framework for managing aviation’s emissions to be presented to COP16 in December 2010.

Shaping the Future
We must not lose sight of the future – the crisis will be over one day. But what will the post crisis future look like?

A major reshaping of the entire business will be needed. It will not be business as usual in the post-crisis world. We must use this crisis as an opportunity to reshape the industry and make it stronger.

Mr Giovanni Bisignani
Director General and CEO
International Air Transport Association (IATA)