Boyd: Airlines Face Meltdown Next Year, Battling Wrong Foe

Boyd Group President Michael Boyd suggested a major crisis is looming in the airline industry which may result in “another fundamental business model restructuring” that will not be solved by consolidation or mergers. Boyd cited the continuing ATC infrastructure deterioration, “really inept legislation” and oil as the catalysts. He indicated that the $9 billion the ATC system is costing the airlines will be compounded by oil prices reaching $80 per barrel, up from $58 earlier this year.
He said the industry and Congress are focusing on the wrong goal and should wrest control of ATC modernization from FAA, defining what it is the industry actually needs. “Instead of supporting re-labeled FAA modernization plans it is time for the airport industry, the airline industry, and general aviation to join together and take matters into their own hands,” he said. “The FAA's constant excuses over a period of years, and the dishonest ‘re-benchmarking’ deadlines, and negligently ‘re-defining’ ATC errors, all represent incontrovertible evidence that the FAA in its current structure is not capable of addressing the issue. The aviation industry needs to unilaterally begin to plan the ATC system that's really needed to meet the needs of all aviation sectors in the 21st century.”  For a complete analysis see the next issue of Regional Aviation News.