Around the globe many governments have started the slow and cautious steps toward opening their economies. In the aviation sector, we have seen a slight up tick in the number of individuals traveling and have heard and/or seen the various reports of some flights experiencing 90% capacity, causing angst in many of the travelers (and probably the flight crew as well). There are several links in today’s Noted Elsewhere section of IFExpress addressing this very issue. We also are seeing the airlines, their employees, and airports grapple with how to safely resume operations. This includes spooling up for more self-check-in kiosks, temperature tests by TSA, increased sanitizing and disinfecting efforts both in the airport and on the plane, social distancing at the gate and while boarding, as well as, the requirement for passengers to wear masks during boarding and on the flight. Add to the scenario the discussion of requiring immunity passes and at airport testing for COVID-19 and all of the sudden we are easily facing a 4 hour process from check-in to boarding the airplane – even for a short domestic flight. What is crystal clear is that for the foreseeable future the journey is going to be laden with pitfalls, filled with stress and be as far from our dream of the seamless travel experience as you can get.

The challenge we face is how to address these issues. The quicker we can build traveler confidence in the airport/travel process the faster our industry will rebound – that’s a no brainer. This will take not only familiarity with the new procedures and faith that they work, but from a personal perspective, they need to be somewhat standardized. Over the past nineteen years, nothing has irritated me more, and made traveling more stressful, than the different TSA requirements from country to country – and this is coming from a person who has traveled a lot! In other words, there needs to be collaboration and agreement on the various processes and requirements on a global scale in order to build back confidence.

The other items that will drive recovery in our industry are agility and innovation. The companies, whether they are airlines, IFEC suppliers, OEMS or airports; that are forward thinking and grasp this opportunity to not only embrace new technologies but implement them will be those that not only survive but maybe thrive. AI, block chain and big data have long been technology buzz words and topics at numerous industry conferences but now is the time to leverage those technologies in order to operate more efficiently and make every decision and dollar count.

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Reader Opinion

Recently, several aviation aficionados had a back-and-forth dialog about the state of the industry, particularly the challenges Boeing is, and has been, facing. IFExpress was given permission to publish their opinions as long as the correspondents remained anonymous. The following is a portion of that communication.

Initial Comments:

“I worked at Boeing for over 20+ years, mostly during the 70’s and 80’s. At that time, the company was run by engineers and pro-technology folks. There was a dynamic shift in corporate philosophy when Boeing bought McDonnell Douglas.

Matt Stoller recently wrote: “Similarly, Boeing once made great planes, now it has great connections and big bailouts, an engineering powerhouse turned into a financial engineering powerhouse.” Further, in 2019 he wrote this article that really comes to point today.

Today, Boeing is run in Chicago & New York by ‘money managers’, the tech equity has vanished – and unless the tekkies take over, it just might be something else in the future!”

Response:

“I agree with your sentiment as well as Matt Stoller’s detailed coverage.

I think there is another perspective which typically is not found in aviation trade publications or general business journals like the WSJ.  And the subject and focus of that perspective is “character” and by that I mean good character, truth, integrity, and honesty driven from the top down to the shop floor.  Once the accountants and the money managers took power, the technical concerns were secondary.  Technical issues were dismissed and, if not dismissed entirely, there was a cost number put on the issue and they called it a “risk factor”.

Remember the Pinto?  After a couple of Pintos crashed in fiery and deadly accidents, the plaintiff’s lawyers, through discovery of Ford’s internal memos, found that the Pinto fuel tanks were subject to explosions upon impact.  Ford knew this.  The Ford design and test engineers raised their concerns internally.  The accountants, the lawyers, and the actuaries ran the calculations comparing the cost of fuel tank design fixes versus a payout in a lawsuit.  The design fix lost because it was calculated to be cheaper to pay the judgement or settlement.  I saw a photo of a young man who survived his Pinto rear-ender and his face looked like a mud slide of flesh.  Yes, he won a few million dollars from Ford but his face still looked like a mud slide of flesh.  I’ll never forget his photo.

The decisions that Boeing made on the MAX-8 design showed total dedication to the cost-benefit calculation rather than doing the design safely and properly and not one concern for 346 dead airline passengers.  Shame!

This attitude bleeds over to other design projects as well.  I know for a fact that the 787 was managed in the same way.  Thank God there have been no crashes (that I know of) but I know design economies were forced on engineers for the forward landing gear as well as (some) cabin systems.  How do I know?  Because I was in the meetings.

This is where the obsession with quarterly earnings growth leads to trouble and Boeing plays the game to meet or beat the earnings target each time and not care so much for the quality or safety of the product.  With respect to the Max-8 debacle, I hate to say it, but I see very little indication that Boeing has learned a lesson from this sorry episode.

Boeing needs a visionary leader who drives the principle of “Always Do the Right Thing” and not cut corners and mislead the customer (and traveling public).  Do this and the stock market will respond favorably.”

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Boeing

On May 14, 2020 Boeing appointed Mike Delaney to lead the company’s Confident Travel Initiative, effective immediately. Working across the industry, Delaney’s team will work to develop new solutions to help minimize air travel health risks amid the COVID-19 pandemic and drive awareness of health safeguards already in place. Delaney brings 31 years of Boeing experience to the role, including previous executive leadership positions in airplane development and engineering, and currently serves as vice president of Digital Transformation at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “As air travel slowly begins to resume and restrictions ease around the globe, health and safety remain our top priorities for our teams who design, build and service the airplanes and all those who fly on them,” said Boeing President and CEO David Calhoun. “Mike’s deep technical expertise, leadership skills, industry knowledge and great passion for our customers make him uniquely qualified to lead this effort.”

The Confident Travel Initiative team will work with airlines, global regulators, industry stakeholders, flying passengers, infectious disease experts and behavioral specialists to establish industry-recognized safety recommendations. The team is also advising operators on existing, approved disinfectants that are compatible with the airplane flight decks and cabins and testing other sanitizers. “Our commitment to ensuring the health of airline passengers and crews is unwavering,” said Delaney. “We’re working with partners to enhance aircraft cleanliness procedures and identify other areas to further reduce the risk of airborne illness transmission.”

Boeing’s effort will build on the industry’s enhanced safety approaches – including enhanced cleaning, temperature checks and the use of face coverings – and promote the proven systems already in place to help maintain cabin cleanliness. One such system is the air filtration system present on all Boeing airplanes. The air filtration system incorporates High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters similar to those used in hospitals and industrial clean rooms. HEPA filters are 99.9+% effective at removing particulates such as viruses, bacteria and fungi before air is recirculated back to the cabin. Boeing continues to research and evaluate new technologies to enhance safety, including ultraviolet light disinfecting systems and antimicrobial coatings for high-touch surfaces. The company is working with academics, health experts and learning institutions worldwide to field studies and facilitate research on reducing the potential of disease transmission on airplanes. “Air travel is coming back,” said Delaney. “As that happens, we want passengers and crews to board Boeing airplanes without hesitation.”

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Museum of Flight Pathfinder Award

Congratulations Bob Bogash! He has just won the latest Seattle Museum of Flight Pathfinder Award, and while many readers have not met or even heard of Bob, we wanted to tell you a little about him as he has worked with us, he also contributed information, pictures and aviation news for all our readers in IFExpress – and yes, he lives and breathes flying!

First the award: “The Museum of Flight’s Annual Pathfinder Awards honors individuals with ties to the Pacific Northwest who have made significant contributions to the development of the aerospace industry. Pathfinder Award recipients are selected by The Museum of Flight, the Pacific Northwest Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and representatives of other aviation and aerospace organizations and companies throughout the Northwest.”

Here is Bob’s website and if you like aviation history, this is for you.Bob’s efforts in bringing older planes and aviation history to the museum may be hard to beat because aviation is his life, even while retired.

Why Bob Won: “Bob and others set a goal to bring the B-52 from Paine Field to The Museum of flight. In the process the B-52 was disassembled and trucked to the museum. The wings, rudder, elevator, vertical and horizontal stabilizers were removed. The whole plane was cleaned and repainted. It was quite a sight being trucked into its present site. Bob had a major role in seeing this happen. Bob’s actions to bring the B-52 to be the centerpiece for the Welcome Home Vietnam Veteran’s Park was 50 years late, but it brings a lump to my throat when I go by it and realize we were finally thanked for our service. For Mr. Bogash’s action in helping to bring the B-52 as a centerpiece for the Welcome Home Vietnam Veteran’s Park and giving us a special place to honor men like Marvin Shields, he will always hold a special place in my heart. I strongly recommend Mr. Bob Bogash for a Pathfinder Award. (This was a recommendation by a museum docent.)

Noted Bob; “As I’ve mentioned before, recognition by one’s peers is far more important to me than a plaque on the wall. And for that, I thank you sincerely. You are the folks I admire, and so your support is all the more humbling. It’s now 55 years since I first became involved with the hatchling Museum Of Flight and became increasingly devoted to expanding its collection with some great and deserving historic aircraft. I take great pride in walking around the campus and seeing so many of the fabulous airplanes I worked so hard to acquire over so many years — and recalling all the travails involved in bringing them to their present state of glory – and to have flown three on their final flights!” Bob went on: “Maybe, these airplanes will be my contribution to that wondrous world of aviation that I love so much and which has wonderfully loved me back.”
Congratulations Bob!

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Other News

• Perhaps a virtual travel experience just might be what you need while cramped up in your present living arrangements: Virtual Traveling: How to Tour the World While Still Social Distancing – Thrillist
• As you may know, folks are working from home, but what you might not know is that half of them like it! Working During COVID-19: U.S. Employees Embracing Remote Work Survey Report | The Grossman Group And yes, it is a free report.
• Status of upcoming vaccines, drugs and other treatments in the battle against COVID-19 Also, Decoding COVID-19 | NOVA | PBS (Note: This video is not easy to watch, but, it is real.)
• And finally, if you think travel will come back in a year, or so, you might want to view what the folks at IATA say: “We don’t expect 2019 levels to be exceeded until 2023.” Interestingly, the U.S. President said: “The airline industry is in good shape. We’ve been able to save the airline industry which would have been devastating if that happened.” We will see.