IATA chief executive Willie Walsh believes US president-elect Donald Trump’s previous support of the airline industry during Covid and likely lighter regulatory touch mean US airline leaders are generally “net positive” about the incoming administration.
Asked about the possible impact on the sector of a Trump administration during a press conference at the IATA Wings of Change Europe conference in Rome, Walsh said he had had the opportunity to speak to a number of US airline leaders last week.
”I think the mood there is they see it, generally, as a net positive – for a couple of reasons,” he says.
”I think they are reminded of the support they got from the Trump Administration first time around during Covid,” he says, citing the US CARES Act package of measures, which helped keep airlines flying during the pandemic. ”I think they see that as a recognition by president Trump of the importance of the industry in the United States, so that’s a positive.
”I think they also see a change in the way the administration will regulate the industry. There have certainly been moves in recent times under [transport] secretary [Pete] Buttigieg to impose additional regulation on the industry and they believe that a Trump administration will reverse those decisions and move to a lighter touch regulation on the industry. Again they see that as a positive.”
While Walsh acknowledges that it remains unknown what the wider political impact on the industry may be – Dragonfly chief intelligence officer Henry Wilkinson had earlier in the conference flagged potential shifts in the European-US relationship from a Trump administration approach on trade and funding support of NATO – he shared support for a lighter approach on regulation for the industry.
Citing the recent Mario Draghi report commissioned by the European Commission on the bloc’s competitiveness, he say: ”Regulation in Europe has made Europe less competitive globally. So I think the move in the US – which would be to less regulation and lighter touch regulation – hopefully, we will see that emerge in Europe given the recognition in the Draghi Report.”
