Regional Aviation Essay

Aviation is an industry with rapid growth and constant changes. In order to stay up-to-date within the industry, keeping track of advancements and market forecasting play major roles in ensuring decisions made are current and of relevance. In the guest lecture given by John Bent a forecast of what the aviation industry may become in 10 years’ time was presented. In his presentation, John focused on the significance of regional aviation on a global scale, technological advancements which may contribute to and or impact the aviation industry and the importance of professional training. In this report, the aforementioned points will be dissected and discussed in details together with relevant findings and my personal opinions.

John began his presentation by painting the big picture of an introduction to the airline industry on a global point of view, whilst acknowledging that the regional aviation sector forms a branch of the industry, throughout his presentation we were able to see his urge to remind that despite the growth in the international sector, the regional and general aviation sector should be just as important and of same-scale growth potential that is often ignored.

In my opinion, agreeing with John Bent, the regional and general aviation’s importance has always been disregarded to an extent, with the industry often overseeing the growth potentials in the regional regions and mainly focused on the global international market. However, I believe the regional and general aviation market act as a vital key to establishing aviation as an accessible transportation for the general public. By developing the regional and general aviation sector, it will help increase interests in the aviation industry as a whole by opening access to new regions and markets, which is filled with potential to be unleashed, however restrained by the limited opportunities. As well as providing a more time-saving mode of transportation for connecting regions.

Another topic John Bent mentioned was technological advancements. With the constant evolvement of technologies, aviation industry faces challenges, which in return when overcome, will accelerate technological developments. Aviation and technology are intertwined, interconnected and interdependent to each other.

I strongly agree with John Bent’s point of view in terms of the connection between the aviation industry and the technological advancements. A common characteristic between the two would be the constant changing and evolving nature of both topics of interest. In his presentation, John Bent discussed 10 developments in technology that may affect the aviation industry. Of which, drones and “the breaking bad fuel” sparked the most interest personally. The development of drones has matured very quickly over the past few years, with drones becoming more robust and commercially available. Drone with its compact size compared to traditional manned aircraft, can readily access remote and trouble areas that traditional manned aircraft cannot physically access to, thus becoming a very useful tool for range of works from  capturing first hand footage of disaster areas and emergency relieve to battlefield warfare; from agricultural uses to recreational leisure uses. However, various complications such as risks of collision in skies with manned aircraft need to be addressed before drones can pose as an implication to the aviation industry as issues with drone usage laws regulations are still under review, which are preventing the outburst of drone use. The other topic of interest, “the breaking bad fuel”, following John Bent’s acknowledgement of it being an “huge and disruptive” implication, in my point of view, the implication could become a reality sooner than 10 years, disregarding the scale of implication. The fact that the two largest aircraft manufactures, Boeing and Airbus are interested in battery/solar, and hybrid aircraft possibilities as mentioned by John Bent, proves that sustainability is a new path of advancement for the aviation industry. In particular, Airbus’ recent test-flight of the E-Fan 2.0, a two-seater electric powered aircraft targeted for 2017 sale and pilot training use purpose (Airbus Group, 2014).  The E-Fan 2.0 could provide opportunities for regional and general aviation development in that it can help train pilots in a more cost-effective and sustainable way. With developments in technologies, this then can be applied to regional commercial use for short haul routes. Eventually, aviation will take on-board a more sustainable, environmentally friendlier approach while providing shorter travel time and higher frequency as aimed by Airbus Group in its “Smarter Skies” 2050 vision plan (Airbus Group, 2011)