Fuel campaigns
Joint IATA and industry efforts to open up the jet fuel market for competition continue in many countries, including Australia, China, Cuba, Kazakhstan, and Mexico. Those efforts also continue to ensure the reliability of supply in such jurisdictions as Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom. South Africa, meanwhile, decided in 2018 to implement a crisis management plan and to conduct a consultative process on storage capacity enhancement.
Industry campaigns to remove or prevent unjustified fees and taxes on international jet fuel are ongoing. In India, the regulating authority announced a reduction in the fuel throughput charge at Chennai Airport, saving airlines an estimated $30 million for 2018–19. The Indian government further announced a reduction in the excise duty on jet fuel for 2018, granting domestic operations savings of around $75 million.
ATM Developments
In 2018, IATA, ICAO, and other partners continued to drive operational improvements. Among them was a change to the requirements related to reductions in the separation between aircraft over oceans. The change involved transitioning to a performance-based standard requiring new equipment, authorizations from regulators, and additional training for pilots.
There was also ongoing work on safety mitigation related to unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). IATA collaborated with international organizations, regulators, member airlines, and other partners on the efficient integration of UAS into airspace. This includes IATA’s continuing work with ICAO and more partners on UAS traffic management, which, in turn, involves engaging the UAS industry to develop new concepts for UAS operations.
Space operations, meanwhile, are anticipated only to increase. And the goal here, too, is to integrate these operations, which traditionally occur in segregated airspace, with civil aviation operations. IATA and others are working to reduce the impact the launch and recovery of space vehicles has on civil airspace.