On Thursday April 30th the Hermes Leaders met on line via conferencing via videoconferencing due to the Covid-19 quarantine requirements to discuss this year’s theme “Air Transport Re-imagined and Re-invented”.
Welcoming the Participants Dr Kostas Iatrou, Director General of Hermes – Air Transport Organisation first thanked the participants for accepting to participate in such a different forum and pointed out that for the first time in its history, air transport is almost at a complete halt and that the industry faces an unprecedented situation and unforeseeable challenges. “We have to restart this business once there is a relaxation of the measures implemented by the different countries. The air transport 2.0 has to be more resilient, less vulnerable and better prepared for the next crisis. The Forum will be able to provide with some initial views on the next day”.
The leaders of the air transport participated in the Forum and expressed their views
2020 Hermes AGM
Dr Iatrou in his Annual Report of the organisation presented the developments of Hermes during the last 12 months including the the MoU’s signed by Hermes, the participation of Hermes in ICAO Assembly, he gave an update of current members that include 86 regular, 3 honorary and 2 associate members and welcomed Hermes newsiest member, Nicholas Calio, President & CEO of A4A. He concluded his report by announcing that Hermes received 13 position papers for the 2020 recommendations.
Jeff Poole, President of Hermes presented Hermes new Honorary Member, Salvatore Sciacchitano, President of the ICAO Council.
Finally, Professor Martin Dresner, Chair of the 2020 Hermes Report Committee presented the final report on the 2020 recommendations on Digitalisation, AI in Aviation and the Human Factor.
The recommendations are:
- ICAO needs to take the lead in developing a roadmap for the implementation of AI and digital technologies in the industry.
- The implementation of industry standards can be best accomplished through industry associations. These industry associations should proceed concurrently with ICAO standards development. Concurrent development will help ensure that the standards are workable and will speed their development.
- Funding sources for technology implementation must be identified to ensure that aviation firms around the world can participate in these new technologies.
- Finally, training and development in these new technologies should be implemented immediately. The current downturn of the industry has idled thousands of industry employees. Now is an ideal time to engage in training and re-training for the future needs of the industry.