Britain's largest scheduled airline leader, Mr. Willie Walsh, speaks at BSCC luncheon in Geneva |
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Disarmingly frank. That would be my assessment of the CEO of British Airways’ speech last Thursday; and probably the opinion of most other members of the audience too. Willie Walsh was speaking to a packed dining room at a BSCC Luncheon in his honour given by the Geneva Chapter at Geneva International Airport. Large losses; no green shoots; a failure of the traditional world aviation structure; and the paradox of globalisation in the form of government restrictions, subsidies and state ownership: these were just some of the points in his blunt litany critiquing the state of his industry today. What was positive? British Airways has led the way in public targets of fuel efficiency and carbon trading. It will continue to make real cuts in emissions. And it will do its utmost to encourage a global strategy on sustainability in the airline industry rather than “a patchwork of national deals.” Such straight talking throughout his speech and in the Q & A session afterwards were warmly appreciated by the audience. Having the leader of Britain’s largest scheduled airline in the company of the BSCC was a great treat and thanks to the facilitation of PrivatAir, one of our generous Geneva Chapter sponsors.  |
willie walsh p.1.pdf