Industry vs. Regulator - aviation heavyweights spar in Dublin

Two of the leading figures in aviation sparred publicly about sustainability, airport disruption and how the war in Ukraine is impacting Europe's skies in a rare interview-turned-debate at an industry conference in Dublin on Monday. Willie Walsh, outspoken head of the world's biggest airline trade body, IATA, joined the European Union's top permanent transport official Henrik Hololei on stage at the Airline Economics conference in the world's aviation finance capital. In a heavily regulated sector, airlines and others typically save their lobbying for discreet, closed-doors meetings. But the two influential figureheads brought their frank views to the stage, arguing in front of hundreds of financiers. Hololei, who is originally from the Baltic nation of Estonia, once part of the Soviet Union, repeatedly pointed to the impact of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the disruption caused by the closure of Russian airspace to many Western countries. But Walsh wanted to know what could be done to lift that closure, which threatens to penalise some Western airlines at the expense of Chinese and other carriers that continue to fly over Russia. Hololei was blunt: "Russia to lose the war, to start with. That would help for sure." He added there would be no "business as usual" if Russian airspace did reopen. "If one day we will have the opportunity to see the opening up of Russian airspace, one thing has to disappear: the Siberian overflight royalties, " he said, referring to fees collected from airlines by Moscow for routes that fly over Siberia. Story has more.<br/>