ISTAT Jetrader - Autumn 2020 - 2

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Our Ever-Changing
Landscape

F

irst, I hope you and
your families are
healthy, safe and
well. The Queen
of England once
described a year
as annus horribilis,
which also seems fitting for 2020.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 has not
gone away, and countries are having
varying degrees of success in
stabilizing the pandemic. As I write
this, it would appear that passenger
demand keeps getting kicked to the
right, and the hope of a return of
traffic to any reasonable levels in
2020 has long disappeared.
Airlines remain top of our
industry's food pyramid. Without
them, there is no leasing, trading,
financing, maintenance requirements,
etc. We continue to see airlines
trying to restructure and go through
immense hardship. The now all-toofamiliar sight of aircraft sitting idle

It is during these unprecedented times, when the
fabric of our industry's existence is at stake, that we will
need to be tolerant, supportive and empathetic to others.
at airports around the globe is a sign
of the fallout from the pandemic.
Unfortunately, we have not reached
the truly distressed phase of this
cycle yet, as the airlines are currently
shouldering the majority of pain.
In the coming months, lessors,
MROs, OEMs, banks, etc., will start
to feel the pinch of a zero-demand
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* T H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I C AT I O N O F I S TAT

environment. This is going to cause
significant stress on existing industry
dynamics and relationships that
were once thought stable. It is during
these unprecedented times, when the
fabric of our industry's existence is at
stake, that we will need to be tolerant,
supportive and empathetic to others.
This would be an ideal time to
schedule some get-togethers, but there
are forces at work that have precluded
this from happening. We have had to
cancel our conferences in Asia, EMEA
and Latin America this year, as well
as numerous other events. We have
also had to defer the inaugural ISTAT
Professional Development Program
(ISTAT PDP) course. These decisions,
while not taken lightly, were made with
the best interests of our members'
health and safety in mind. As with
an airline, safety comes first. This is
something we will not roll over on.
ISTAT has gone on the offense in
the past number of weeks. We are
continuing to develop and progress our
online activities, which are proceeding
well. The ISTAT Chats and Learning
Labs give members a chance to better
understand varying perspectives of the
ever-changing landscape.
While we had remained hopeful
of having a variation on our annual
Holiday Receptions, this is unlikely
to be the case. However, we will
continue to monitor local government
restrictions and the ability of locations
to permit our members to be able to
attend an event in a safe environment.
In addition, we are planning to relaunch
ISTAT PDP in Europe in 2021 and
will also launch the U.S. version next
year. More of this to follow in the
coming months.
ISTAT Jetrader - Autumn 2020

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