The world’s aviation unions have endorsed a framework they say is designed to stop travel chaos becoming a permanent feature of the aviation industry, amid warning that the industry is on course for a prolonged period of recurring crises.
The major pillars of the framework, titled the New Deal for Aviation, will be delivered to the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Assembly later this month, urging for the immediate creation of national aviation bodies to address an industry that has “become environmentally, economically, and socially unsustainable.”
Coordinated by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and endorsed by over 250 affiliated unions, representing over 1 million aviation workers, new aviation bodies would bring together governments, employers, unions and the public to create country specific national aviation plans.
The unions stated that these aviation plans will allow transport departments, aviation authorities, employers and unions to address the structural causes of this crisis, with a focus on "the significant impact that decades of deregulation and fragmentation has had on the aviation industry’s resilience".
The unions point to the thousands of flight cancellations, delays, capacity reductions and even flight capping at some of the world’s largest airports.
Stephen Cotton, General Secretary of the ITF, commented: “Decades of decline in workers’ wages and working conditions have led the aviation industry to the edge of perpetual chaos.”
“Without a coordinated response that addresses both immediate and longer-term worker shortages, alongside structural transformation, aviation will continue to move from crisis to crisis. Governments have lost control of aviation in their territories, and urgently need to get it back.”
Unveiled at the ITF’s Civil Aviation Conference in Montreal, Canada, the New Deal for Aviation also seeks to mandate action from the industry on decarbonisation, digitalisation, and sustainable funding. This includes commitment to “genuine carbon neutral growth” beyond 2019 traffic levels, and eliminating violence against aviation workers by implementing key ILO conventions into domestic law.
Edgardo Llano, Chair of the ITF Civil Aviation Section and General Secretary of Argentine union Asociación del Personal Aeronáutico (APA), said: “We need to restore the checks and balances of global aviation.
“In what was once a nationalised industry in countries around the world, the scale has moved too far towards serving the interests of CEOs and shareholders above those of workers and passengers.
“The ‘New Deal’ has the potential to move the scale back, and ensure that both employees and travellers get the treatment they deserve.”