Dr Kostas Iatrou, Director General of Hermes – Air Transport Organisation, representing Hermes participated in the High level Ministerial Meeting on Enhancing Air Transport Connectivity and Growth in West Africa held on 17 & 18 March 2021 organised by Nigerian Federal Ministry of Aviation and iPADIS. He participated in the panel of SESSION 4 – Strategies and Sectoral synergies that are required for air transport growth.
In his speech he stressed that now that the industry faces an unprecedented existential crisis it needs to bring together individuals with varied experiences to collaborate and solve complex situations as a diversity of experience is needed to see risks and opportunities from different angles to generate new, dynamic, and flexible solutions and adopt best practices. Long term strategic and risk-based scenario planning is crucial for the sustainable development of aviation to better prepare the industry for the next crisis. NGOs and Civil Society Organisations should act as fora for exchange, cooperation and collaboration and for institutionalizing collaborative and leadership practices. The role of the leader is not to issue directives but to influence and to coordinate so as to agree on a common set of goals. Hermes’s goal is to facilitate discussions on collaboration and leadership this is why it issues recommendations, this year’s focuses on Resilience and Efficiency through Leadership and Cooperation.