By Nicole Noack.     Airline operators or owners have any number of business reasons for modifying their aircraft fleet. Whether it’s modernizing the flight deck or adding new passenger friendly amenities to the cabin, a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) is an often-used and effective method which also maintains the aircraft’s airworthiness. The process to complete an STC is complex, and to the uninformed may be perceived as a black box. It is important to keep in mind, however, that while the STC process is indeed complex, it is both well established and rigorous. While the interaction of airline owners or operators with aviation authorities like ANAC, TCCA, or CASA may be minimal, understanding key details about the process is [...]

By Jose Ricardo Botelho, Executive Director and CEO of ALTA. This year we embark on a new space that we call Overflying Latin America and the Caribbean to share with distinguished industry professionals perspectives on the future of aviation in the region and the work that industry and government must develop to accelerate recovery. For this first edition, I had the pleasure of talking with the elected Secretary General of ICAO, Juan Carlos Salazar, who will take office on August 1, 2021, being the first Spanish-speaker to assume this position in the organization that represents world civil aviation. . With more than 26 years of outstanding experience in the industry, Juan Carlos has recent achievements such as a 60% growth [...]

By Juan Carlos Salazar, Director General of Civil Aviation de Colombia.   The impact of the fall in demand generated by COVID-19, added to the air restrictions and quarantines with mobility restriction in Colombia observed as of March 2020, evidenced a sharp drop in the operational figures of passenger movement and cargo. The above, dramatically changed the growth trend that was seen in previous decades; The historical evolution of traffic and the sustained growth trend of the last several years, which in 2019 made it possible to move more than 41.2 million passengers through the different airports in Colombia, with a growth above 9%.   Passenger Movement   When making an analysis of the monthly passenger movement , it is [...]

By Jose Ricardo Botelho, Executive Director and CEO of ALTA   We have reached one and a half months of the long-awaited 2021. A year full of hopes with the beginning of the COVID-19 vaccines global distribution and prospects of recovering step by step in-person activities after a 2020 with human and economic losses, as well as a heavily impacted aviation industry.   According to ICAO data, in 2020 there was a 50% overall reduction in seats offered by airlines around the world vs. 2019, and a 60% reduction in passenger traffic with 2.69 billion fewer passengers from 2019.   In our region, we estimate a 59.2% reduction in passenger traffic vs. 2019, totaling 177.3 million passengers carried in the [...]

ALTA sends a message of confidence to the industry   By José Ricardo Botelho   We are going through a situation that has significantly impacted the behavior of passengers. An X-ray of this thesis is shown in the surveys carried out by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in 11 markets: In February 2020 almost 100% of passengers were willing to travel, in April 61%, in June the 45%.   However, at this time we know that with the protocols established by the ICAO Council for Aviation Recovery (CART), the probability of infection in flight is 1 in 4300. According to IATA studies, the air in an airplane cabin is eight times better than that of a supermarket.   All [...]

Recovery as a Goal   By José Ricardo Botelho   We live in extraordinary times, which inevitably require extraordinary efforts. The team at the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) is aware of this and therefore, since the beginning of the pandemic, our immediate priority has been to support our members to remain viable during this crisis and to collaborate with the authorities of the region, in the implementation of efficient and articulated mechanisms for the reactivation of air transport.   All the players in the aviation industry have worked day and night, to keep aviation alive, considering the great bridge between countries it represents. Maintaining this active link required the industry to adopt the ICAO CART document [...]

Emerging Technologies and the Future of Aviation Training Post COVID-19 By Triant Flouris, 11 August 2020.   The air transportation industry is expected to double in the next twenty years with forecasts projecting more than 8,2 billion passenger transactions by 2037. This continuous growth inevitably creates unprecedented systemic challenges in terms of equipment (ex. aircraft), infrastructure (ex. airports) and processes (ex. ground service activities). Because of the projected growth, the aviation industry must invest in emerging technologies (ex. Artificial Intelligence-AI, Data Analytics, and Process Automation) creating a seamless journey for passengers, and cargo, while concurrently reducing its environmental footprint.   Given the organic interplay of systems and humans that characterize an aviation ecosystem, further pressure will be exerted on aviation [...]

By Exequiel Sanhueza, May 17, 2020. In the history of humanity, the population has been plagued by various epidemics and pandemics; some with greater consequences than others, but always leaving a high percentage of mortality. Also, there have been other types of crisis, such as the oil crisis in October 1973 generated as a result of Israel's war against Egypt and Syria; the financial crisis of October 1987, the day the most important stock markets in the world collapsed; the crisis of July 1997 that produced the demise of the Asian miracle; the terrorist attacks in the United States of September 11, 2001, which changed our way of flying; and finally and most recently, the crisis of September 2008 when, [...]