ISTAT Jetrader - Winter 2020 - 25

What are the biggest lessons you/your
business has learned from the crisis?
MS: We're all in the middle of taking in those
lessons at the moment. We're learning every day,
and we still have to get out of this pandemic. I
think it's a massive lesson for the entire globe as
far as what can happen, how to adjust and how to
best prepare yourself for the unthinkable. Nobody
could have really fathomed or even dreamt
about something like this
happening. I couldn't, for
sure. And as we're now living
it, of course, making sure
that you have a business that
is well diversified, and that
you have sound and resilient
contingency plans in place,
is absolutely critical.
As the saying goes,
prepare for the worst and
hope for the best. I think that
is probably a focus that many
industries and companies
should take because you
really don't know what
can strike you. I think it is
important to plan for frequent
testing of how resilient your
operating processes and
systems are.
Then you have the human aspect. All of us had to pivot
and make sure, first of all, that our people are safe and that
we provide a safe working environment. For example, having
PPE for our pilots and ground staff. We used to meet and
interact at a water cooler, and we haven't had a water cooler
moment for most of this year, so the natural social interaction
is lost. There's also the vital interaction with customers,
which has completely gone virtual, including negotiating,
onboarding and ongoing management. It's a new way of
doing business.
We will use these learnings and technology to our
advantage in the future. We are working to digitize more
and make sure that we can capitalize on the available
technologies in order to become more efficient.
How might your business/the industry change
post-COVID-19?
MS: First of all, from a passenger airline standpoint, travelers
should have confidence in the safety of the environment in
an aircraft. The air filtration on the aircraft is cleaner and
the circulation is better than in the average surgery room.
This needs to be widely shared with the traveling public.
Boeing and Airbus are doing a significant amount of work

in order to share that information so travelers can feel more
comfortable. Enhanced measures are being taken by cleaning
surfaces of both the aircraft and the airport environment. All
of that will be sustained at a greater level than what we have
seen previously.
From an air cargo standpoint, airfreight is always essential
to the global economy - and this will remain the same in
a post-COVID-19 environment. In normal times, 35% of the
value of all goods transported goes through airfreight, and
now it's even more
The world's focus has now turned to the urgent and global
distribution of vaccines. There are 250 different vaccine types
currently in manufacturing and testing, and we are beginning
to hear news of approvals. The vaccines are based on seven
different technologies, and that in itself is going to require
different types of transportation, including being transported
down to cryo-temperatures and minus 80 degrees Celsius.
That's going to put a tremendous strain, not only on available
capacity, but also the entire supply chain. And then, of course,
when the vaccine comes out in the market, this pandemic
is global and everybody will want to have access to it at the
same time. You can just see how essential airfreight is going
to be to that effort.
Jetrader

* WINTER 2020 * 2 5
ISTAT Jetrader - Winter 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ISTAT Jetrader - Winter 2020
