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Quest Means Business
Special Aviation Edition
Aired December 25, 2014 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: Good evening and welcome to a special aviation edition of QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. 2014, a year that will be marked
in history by two aviation catastrophes, the disappearance of Malaysia Flight MH370 and the shooting down of MH17.
We are still no wiser as to where MH370 is and the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of this Boeing 777. It was bound from Kuala
Lumpur to Beijing and suddenly it dropped out of contact with air traffic controllers barely a couple of hours into the flight.
Many questions over what happened to the 239 passengers and crew remain unanswered.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST (voice-over): Amid the theories and conjecture, the dashed hopes and leads that went nowhere.
HISHAMMUDDIN HUSSEIN, MALAYSIAN ACTING TRANSPORT MINISTER: With every passing day the search has become more and more difficult.
QUEST (voice-over): -- understanding what happened to Malaysia MH370 is as difficult now as the day when it disappeared.
MICHAEL VERNA, AVIATION ATTORNEY: The circumstances of this are so confusing, so mysterious. I have been involved in virtually every major
commercial aviation accident in the world in the last 20 years. And I have never seen anything like this.
QUEST (voice-over): On Saturday, March the 8th, at 12:41 am, the Boeing 777 took off from Kuala Lumpur airport. There were 239 souls on
board. The destination: Beijing. Then less than an hour later, something went horribly wrong. Contact with the plane was lost. There were no
distress calls, no cries for help from the cockpit. The last known transmission from the captain or first officer, according to the Malaysian
government, "Good night, Malaysia 370."
Investigators believe the plane made a turn back and then flew for roughly six hours, going south before crashing into the Indian Ocean off
Perth, Western Australia.
On March the 24th, after extensive work on satellite data, Malaysia's prime minister made a solemn announcement.
NAJIB RAZAK, MALAYSIAN PRIME MINISTER: With deep sadness and regret that I must inform you, Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.
QUEST (voice-over): Families of those on board clung to the hope that their loved ones were still alive. The investigation into what happened
has gone backwards and forwards between a mechanical failure of the 777 and the so-called nefarious option, including terrorism or sabotage by either
the pilots or others on board.
KHALID ABU BAKAR, ROYAL MALAYSIAN POLICE I.G.: This is a criminal investigation. It is ongoing.
QUEST (voice-over): Investigators believe the plane's sudden course change was a deliberate move by someone in the cockpit, but there is no
evidence as to who might have been responsible.
KARLENE PETITT, PILOT: The airplane did not fly itself. That airplane, the pattern, the flight pattern, the route of flight, the
airplane couldn't have done it. We had human intervention.
QUEST (voice-over): In the first week of April, the searchers in the south Indian Ocean detected pings, deep down below. It sparked optimism.
They were closing in on the 777's black box.
DEBORAH HERSMAN, OUTGOING NTSB CHAIRPERSON: Certainly if we recover those recorders, we'll have a lot better chance of finding out what
happened.
QUEST (voice-over): Then when the pings came to an end, it was time to send done the unmanned Bluefin-21 underwater probe to scour the Indian
Ocean floor, looking for debris from the plane. It promises to be an exhaustive search, carried out with the help of some two dozen nations and
it's so far turned up nothing.
We're still no closer to solving the mysteries of MH370, but its most basic, where is the plane?
When I traveled to Kuala Lumpur to meet the Malaysian prime minister shortly after the disappearance, it was in very difficult circumstances.
His government was being criticized over how it had handled the crisis, its communication with the families of those missing and for being too slow to
accept help from outside authorities.
Prime Minister Najib Razak was at pains to point out the situation was unprecedented. He did, though, admit to mistakes and shortcomings in the
investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NAJIB: I have to be quite frank with you. I think, first of all, let's start from the premise that it was unprecedented. We all agree it
was unprecedented.
It was the most technically challenging, most complex issue that Malaysia -- or any country, for that matter -- and I believe even an
advanced country will have great difficulty handling such an issue.
Some of the things we did well. We were very focused on searching for the plane. We didn't get our communications right, absolutely right to
begin with, but I think towards later part, we got -- we got our act together.
So I'm prepared to say that there are things we did well; there are things we didn't do too well, but we're prepared. We're prepared to look
into it and we're prepared for this investigation team to do its objective assessment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: In the months after the crash, I traveled to Doha in Qatar for the 70th General Meeting of IATA -- that's the organization that represents
the world's airlines. One of the big issues, of course, is that tracking of MH370 had been a complete failure. They didn't know where the plane is
and they still don't know today.
So executives across the aviation industry were discussing the future of tracking aircraft, how to make sure you never lose a plane.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST (voice-over): In a day when an iPhone can be tracked in an instant, how could a 777 simply disappear without a trace?
TONY TYLER, CEO, IATA: I promise you, the industry wants to fix this.
QUEST (voice-over): As tens of thousands of aircraft take to the skies every day, the Malaysian tragedies raise the question: when are
planes visible to air traffic control and when are we out alone in the skies?
Planes are currently tracked using two radar systems. There's primary radar, which reflects radio signals and measures the approximate position
of the plane. Then there's secondary radar, relying on an aircraft transponder. It feeds back additional information, such as identity and
altitude.
Once an aircraft is 250 nautical miles from landfall, radar coverage fades. And crews maintain contact using high frequency radio. Under
current regulations, planes only have to communicate once an hour or so. The rest of the time, they fly over the Earth's vast and remote oceans
alone.
Malaysia Airlines disaster was not the first time the industry's been made aware of this potential problem. In 2009, Air France 447 crashed off
the coast of Brazil. It took two years for the wreckage to be located. Air France made immediate changes through a satellite-based system called
ACOS.
ALEXANDRE DE JUNIAC, CEO, AIR FRANCE KLM: We have an automatic tracking system. We send messages with some data of the flight of the
aircraft every 10 minutes. If the aircraft deviates from its initial flight plan, we send messages every minute.
In our dispatch control center in Paris, there is a red light for this aircraft, saying that there is something which is wrong. So the tracking
is much more accurate and we know minute by minute where the aircraft is.
Many airlines have the equipment, the A class equipment, the satellite connection on board. So then it's a decision plus some investment -- but
not huge, not huge investment -- to increase the frequency of the messages.
QUEST (voice-over): It all raises the question, if the satellite technology's available, what's preventing more airlines from employing it?
JOHN LEAHY, COO, AIRBUS: To some degree, it's cost. But it's a little bit like seat belts in a car. If you said a seat belt is an option,
you can pay an extra $100 to have seat belts, maybe today we'd do it. But 20-30 years ago, nobody would have put seat belts in cars.
You almost have to legislate something like this. But if everybody did it, especially for over water flights, once it's legislated, it'll be
fine.
KEVIN HIATT, TASK FORCE LEADER, IATA: There are some carriers that are very sophisticated right now, that have the equipment that may only
need a software change. There are others that will have to start from ground zero.
It's not going to be an easy task but we've put together some of the best experts in the world. All of the vendors -- and there's 30 of them,
by the way, that we have vetted, will get their chance to tell us exactly what their product can do and how they can make that happen.
QUEST (voice-over): Inmarsat is one of those companies. It's offering free tracking, every 15 minutes, via its satellite system. Then
there's Iridium, which is set to launch next year, that uses satellites in low Earth orbit, meaning lower-powered radios can be used.
Installing the systems can cost up to $10,000 a plane and then there's the cost of sending the data to the satellite, which could be prohibitively
expensive to airlines already operating on razor-thin margins.
The changes will bring long-term economic benefits. There'll be more aircraft in the skies.
LEAHY: The technology is there and we as manufacturers -- I'm sure Boeing would have the same feeling -- are frustrated that the airplane was
capable of transmitting all sorts of information about itself. But it didn't have that capability installed. Why don't we just install it?
QUEST (voice-over): The challenge remains getting everyone on the same page. There is no one thing upon which all at IATA can agree. This
is something that has to be done. The tragedy of MH370 is that it still remains a mystery. The future hope is it never happens again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The tragedy of Malaysia Airlines 370.
Extraordinary, three months later, the world was stunned by another airline tragedy, once again it was a Malaysian plane. It was MH17.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Two hundred ninety-eight people lost their lives when Malaysia Flight MH17 was shot down over Eastern Ukraine. Again, it was a Boeing
777, this time flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST (voice-over): Remains of the plane were spread over a wide territory that was controlled by pro-armed Russian militants. The
emergency workers and the investigators were constantly frustrated in their attempts to recover the bodies and secure the crime scene.
A week and a half after the crash, Nick Paton Walsh discovered an abandoned site, evidence tampered with, personal possessions plundered.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The road isn't easy, past shelling and eerie separatist checkpoints. But where it
leads is harder still. In beauty nothing surely could spoil lies a horror still unresolved.
Twelve days since MH-17 was blown out of the sky, it remains here, a monument to cruelty, to how 298 souls, some shipped in parts away on a
separatist train, have yet to find complete rest.
Questions left: what or who else did they love?
What did they feel in their last moments?
The silence in these fields is that of a tomblike sorrow. And loss have isolated it from the war around it, but you really have to stand here
and see the things that people want to take with them on holiday.
And horrifyingly, even now, smell the stench of decay to understand the urgency for the relatives of those who died, who must feel, to get
inspectors to this site and get some kind of closure.
In the hour we were there, no separatists, inspectors or Ukrainian soldiers at this site, just distant smoke that explains why the inspectors'
large convoy has not, for the fourth day running, got here.
"God save and protect us," the sign asks. Not here, still reeking of jet fuel. But you can see the heat of the inferno they fell from the sky
in. Strangers have tried to mourn.
The scene of this crime has been abandoned, evidence tampered with, what must be shrapnel holes visible in the cockpit's remains, a wallet
emptied, a cell phone looted, traces of daydreams that fell from the jet stream into a war whose daily horrors drowned out that which took their
lives, whose blind hatred has yet to find space for the minor dignities they deserve -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Grabovo, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The news that a commercial airliner was shot down by surface- to-air missiles was met with horror in the aviation industry. The route flown by 17 was a designated airway. It was being used regularly by many
passenger planes.
Airlines have for years flown over war zones because high-flying aircraft are not treated as targets by those on the ground. They're either
out of range of weapons or, of course, they're perceived to be what they are, civilian aircraft.
Executives demanded an immediate summit to rethink the threats posed by regional conflicts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TIM CLARK, CEO, EMIRATES: Doing nothing is not going to be an option. We really have to assess now what is the way forward with regard to this.
There are many areas of conflict in the whole of the planet today, and they are growing in numbers and scale. There is a degree of contagion and the
international air community's trying to make its way across these areas of conflict.
Now I suggested it was IATA, ICAO, simply because these are the first entities involved with civil aviation that spring to mind.
But in the end, the information that flows into the state apparatus of the regulators of the countries in which these airlines are domiciled are
probably purer and more sanitized than the airline community will receive itself, even though we have our risk assessment.
And this is that that I really want addressed at some kind of gathering of like-minded airlines and stakeholders to see how it is -- it's
not going to be easy, Richard, but it's something that, in my view, we have to recognize this has been a catastrophe for everybody, not the least of
which, these -- this terrible, terrible situation it places the families and kith and kin of all this downed airliner.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIE WALSH, CEO, INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES GROUP: What happened to MH17 was a disgrace, should not have happened. I'm outraged. I know I've
heard you express outrage about it.
It was a clearly identifiable civilian aircraft flying in open airspace. There was no reason, no excuse, no justification what happened.
And we need to remember that. We should not blame Malaysian. It was not their fault.
What we do as an airline and as an airline group is undertake risk assessment. We do it independently into three of our major airlines. And
it's important that you do it independently, because the environment you're operating in is different, the operating procedures can be different, the
aircraft can be different.
What we do then within the group is ensure that we share the information that we're using to assess risk, so that everybody understands
what we're doing. And I think that's where the industry can improve.
I've heard Tim Clark, the president of Emirates, being interviewed by you, and he made that point very forcibly and correctly. And I think we're
looking to IATA to play a role, because we have a structure there and we have people there.
What we're not asking for -- and this is important -- we're not asking IATA to conduct the risk assessment. We believe that the individual
airlines need to continue to do that. And just because one airline --
QUEST: Right, right.
WALSH: -- decides to fly somewhere and another airline decides not to, it doesn't mean that one airline is right and the other is wrong because
the circumstances for each of the airlines can be different.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TYLER: I do think that in the wake of this terrible tragedy it is incumbent on the authorities to have a look at how they make these
assessments and I believe that sort of activity should be done and should be led and coordinated through ICAO.
It exists to bring governments together to manage the issue of civil aviation around the world and I believe that is where it should be done.
QUEST: Are you prepared to go one stage further and say, post-MH17, it's been shown and proven that the current system does not work?
TYLER: I don't think we should go as far as to say the current system does not work. We have seen a terrible incident where somebody, an
individual somewhere, has taken it upon himself to shoot down a civilian airliner. That doesn't mean the system doesn't work.
It does mean, however, that governments need to look at how they make the assessments of safety and make sure that this kind of thing cannot
happen again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: These tragedies highlight major challenges to an industry entering its second century. In a moment, we'll look back at 100 years of
commercial aviation -- QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in the air.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
QUEST (voice-over): Ah, welcome to the departure lounge, a perfect place for a bit of planespotting. Look out of the window, you'll see all
the planes, the tailfins of the different carriers, magnificent sight.
And it reminds you, whichever airport you're in, "What was impossible yesterday is an accomplishment of today, while tomorrow heralds the
unbelievable."
Those are the words of the founder of the very first airline and the words were spoken a century ago at the dawn of commercial passenger flight.
From the very start, aviation's been a precarious combination of high risk and sometimes low reward.
But it's always been borne of big dreams and with the potential for the triumph in disaster. Today, 8 million people board a plane every
single day and many airlines are still operating at the margins, just like those early pioneers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
QUEST (voice-over): It all started with a 23-minute flight in a flying boat across Tampa Bay, Florida, in 1914. It was humble beginnings
for an industry which has transformed our world.
Then the mayor of St. Petersburg paid $400, worth $9,000 in today's money, for the privilege of becoming the world's first paying passenger.
Scheduled commercial flights were born.
What the Wright brothers started, others continued. Alcock and Brown, the Gypsy Moth, these are the machines that helped create an industry,
which today is worth trillions of dollars.
Think about it, 8 million of us each day get on a plane and take to the skies. Some 3 billion journeys were taken last year. And with those
trips went the hopes and dreams of deals to be done, families to be reunited, ambitions to be realized.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
QUEST (voice-over): The entrepreneurial spirit of risktaking spawned by the early pioneers continued as more and more airlines took to the
skies.
Pan American World Airways blazed a trail across the Atlantic with jet aircraft and trumpeting their service.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): A new concept in air transportation. The travail has been taken out of travel.
QUEST (voice-over): A smooth ride for passengers it might have been. But for the airline, the concept of risk and reward eventually went into
reverse. Pan Am couldn't survive.
The CEO of the airline industry's trade association, Tony Tyler, has seen them come and go.
TYLER: These names have gone; the Pan Ams, as you say, and the British Continental (ph) and others. But of course the businesses went
into other businesses. And that tells us that consolidation is the way forward in this industry.
But we're also seeing, as you say, the rise of new kinds of airlines, which bring a new business model, a new way of looking at the business.
And that's something else that has happened over the years. They're the not the first ones to be new. Every airline starts off with a new model
and a new way to go.
QUEST (voice-over): Risk and reward is everywhere in aviation.
QUEST: A stroll through the engine display at the London Science Museum ends up at the RB-211, built by Rolls-Royce. And this, more than
perhaps any other engine, symbolizes the contradiction in aviation.
On the one hand, it is a technological marvel, ushering in the turbo fan and a new generation of power plants. Unfortunately, it cost so much
to develop, it drove the manufacturer of Rolls-Royce into bankruptcy.
QUEST (voice-over): The industry has suffered as much turbulence in the pocket as it has in the air. American Airlines is another example of
risk and reward. Doing what it does best wasn't enough to keep American from bankruptcy. And it was the last major U.S. carrier to merge with US
Airways.
TYLER: What we need in this industry to be really successful looking forward is a global mindset. The point is this is a global industry. It
has become global over the last hundred years. We're the industry that makes global possible.
And what that means is that everybody in it has to understand they are part of a global network, they are part of a global system and they need to
think globally in everything they do.
QUEST (voice-over): Aviation has always been at the heart of big dreams. Today's mechanical birds are a century away from that air boat
which crossed Tampa Bay, but there is one thing that everyone still shares, they balance the risks and the rewards.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The golden age of travel may be over; for most of us, flying means lengthy security queues, exasperating fees and ever-changing rules
and regulations. Two pet peeves in particular this year. And we'll tell you what they are in a moment.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Welcome back to this special aviation edition of "Quest Means Business." In the next half hour,
Narrator: Taking a plane could be as simple as taking the subway.
QUEST: All aboard! We find out what the 100 years ahead of air travel has in store. And IAG's chief executive has a message to
governments - `trust us, don't tax us.' Also, that emotional baggage - carry-ons cause a right (ph) carry on.
Heathrow's Terminal 2 opened this year when I hosted the program from the brand new building on the day it was opened by Queen Elizabeth. T2
known as the Queen's Terminal will house 23 Star Alliance airlines including United, Air Canada, Air China and Lufthansa. The chief executive
of Star Alliance Mark Schwab told me it's an airport for the future.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
MARK SCHWAB, CEO STAR ALLIANCE: Heathrow Airport is the airport in the world where the largest number of Star carriers operate from. There's
no other airport in the world that has 23 Star Alliance carriers. So, this is the big place. In addition to improving connectivity between the Star
carriers, we have a whole new customer experience as you -
QUEST: Right.
SCHWAB: -- are going to observe. Wonderful new terminal building designed purposely for Star and for Star customers.
QUEST: So let's talk about this - what is different? I mean, today's airport terminals - they're big, they're airy, they tend to follow a
format. Why'd you like this?
SCHWAB: Well, look, actually this part looks pretty common, pretty normal to you.
QUEST: Absolutely.
SCHWAB: I mean this is your traditional airport layout.
QUEST: You've got to have this. If you don't have this, you'll never get your passengers to the plane.
SCHWAB: We have to have this part of it. But here's the big difference - as we work to the front of the building, what you're going to
see is a two-step process for customers to basically take complete control of their airport check-in experience. You've checked in online, you do it
on your telephone, some people do it on their home computer. If you missed most of those opportunities, you'll come to a kiosk here, print your
boarding pass and your bag tag, and you come here to what we call a fast bag drop.
QUEST: Right.
SCHWAB: Drop your bag off and out through security and immigrations. So, the experience is giving you more control over getting through the
airport as fast as possible. There are some customers who need more help, want more help. They will come to the traditional check-in counters. But
at least 70 percent of our customers are going to clear the process within minutes. I mean, very short minutes. Self-check-in, bag drop,
immigrations.
QUEST: The role of Star in a place like Heathrow, in a place like T2 is really interesting because of the role of the alliances as relates to
the airlines themselves.
SCHWAB: That's right.
QUEST: Today as they're doing more and more joint ventures, they're looking amongst each other. But the alliances are still relevant.
SCHWAB: Absolutely. So what we're doing here is we're working collectively to improve the overall experience for all of our member
carriers. We work as a unit with the airport, the airport company - ownership company here -- to make sure that all of this happens on time
within budget.
QUEST: But the relevance of the alliance today, when you've got so many cross-airline alliances outside the family.
SCHWAB: But Richard, the proposition of Star Alliance is global access, right. Twelve hundred and 50 some cities around the world, a
thousand lounges around the world. All of those other ventures are not the customer-facing operations that we are at Star Alliance. So, Star Alliance
is of course absolutely relevant and continues to be relevant. So, here we are in one of the more important business markets of the world, putting the
carriers together to give a whole new experience for customers.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: Memories of disastrous Terminal 5's opening have been etched on the memory of Heathrow for years. Delays, disoriented staff, lost
baggage. It all cost chaos six years ago. Now, Heathrow's chief executive told me this time it was important to open the terminal gradually and get
it right.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
JOHN HOLLAND-KAYE, CEO, HEATHROW AIRPORT: Every airport opening that has happened around the world for the last 5/10 years, has had major
challenges. Hong Kong we thing got today as being one of the world's best airports - massive problems on opening, Denver, the same, Berlin hasn't
even opened yet. Enormous challenges. And one of the ways to overcome that is to make sure you open in a phase way so that you can learn the
lessons as you go along, you don't interrupt and disturb passengers' journeys which is the most important thing. And that's what we've done
here.
QUEST: So you've got it up and running, what's next at Heathrow?
HOLLAND-KAYE: Well, today we've got about 25 percent of this terminal occupied. By October it'll be 100 percent occupied. The next phase is
that we will close Terminal 1 which is the next of our oldest terminals. It's just next door to this Terminal 2, and they will demolish it, we'll
expand this building so it'll be twice the size. It'll actually be bigger than Terminal 5 at that point, and then we'll -
QUEST: Will you extend it into where Terminal 1is now?
HOLLAND-KAYE: Exactly. And it will be a mirror image of Terminal 5, so we'll have big Terminal 5 at one end of the airport, Terminal 2 at the
other end of the airport. And once you've done that, we'll move the airlines out of Terminal 3 into this building and demolish and close
Terminal 3. And that will allow us to have a brand new airport for the U.K., which will be the most modern hub airport in the world. It's a
fantastic opportunity.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: So much for new terminals and airlines. We need a glimpse of the future - the future of passenger flight. Airbus says it could be a lot
more efficient and possibly even free.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Airbus has been testing a model SpacePlane. If it ever goes into production, the plane will take tourists on short journeys above the
atmosphere. It's one of the futuristic ideas that Airbus has been working on. So as we mark a hundred years of commercial passenger flight, Lisa
Soares has been exploring what could come next.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
ISA SOARES, REPORTER AT CNN INTERNATIONAL IN TOULOUSE, FRANCE: In the 1970s the future of air travel looked supersonic. Concorde
heralded a time of fast and luxurious travel. While it remains the shining example of the brilliant engineering, the economics just didn't add up.
Concorde's speed came at a price. It was a noisy gas-guzzler, the very characteristics that today's plane makers need to cut. Efficient, leaner
performance what's steering 21st century production.
GREGOR DIRKS, CHIEF INNOVATOR, AIRBUS: Well the energy problem is one of the major drivers of us of course. So we have to do
something about it. Reducing fuel burn is one way we do and we've been very successful on the past. Another one is to switch to electric dive is
one concept.
SOARES: A vision of the future. A concept plane packed with engineering dreams. Bionic see-through skins giving panoramic views,
materials which don't corrode and radical plans for speedier boarding.
Narrator: Taking a plane could be as simple as taking the subway.
DIRKS: In the future we could think about city center check-in and actually transport little pods to the airports where the
passengers are already in and just get with a pod, slide it into the airplane in order to have a smooth and seamless experience of flying.
SOARES: Cheaper flights have driven the growth, and with air traffic predicted to rise by more than 4 percent a year, the prospect
of free flights is on horizon.
DIRKS: The airlines may not take the money from the passenger directly, it may be from somebody who has an interest of you
flying somewhere - medical services for instance. You are confined in a space sitting on a seat which might be quite technical, it might sense body
behavior for quite a while and somebody might be willing to pay for this type of thing while you fly.
SOARES: This is the final assembly line of the 8380, the world's biggest passenger aircraft and the flagship of the Airbus fleet.
Now, so far 132 of these planes have been delivered to customers around the world. Now, you'd have thought that once production starts, innovation
stops. Well, far from it. This is about constant redeveloped making production smoother and improving performance.
DIRKS: The concept plane is a revolutionary concept we've been showing with many things in them and some of them will become reality
in a revolutionary plane later in this century. However, we don't want to wait for this, so we take pieces of that vision and try to implement them
as early as possible into or operations and into our current fleet. Today we have flying parts today built on 3D printing materials. This is an
organic bionic-shape which we couldn't do with traditional manufacturing in a cost-effective way. This is going to be the big revolution in
manufacturing. Passengers won't see it much. They got more choice, they got it cheaper and earlier.
SOARES: While the sun may have set on supersonic passenger flight, the speed of the manufacturing revolution is gathering pace,
bringing with it the prospect of a greener, smarter and more sustainable future for flight.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: The airline industry often gets bashed for its contribution to climate change. This year, Willie Walsh represented the industry at the
United Nations Climate Change Summit. Now, Willie Walsh is the chief executive of IAG, the owners of British Airways, Iberia and Vueling. The
outline plans to cut emissions by 50 percent by 2050, and then afterwards he told me his industry's ready to make changes if it gets support from
government.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
WILLIE WALSH, CEO, INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES GROUP: My message (ph) is very simple. We recognize that we have a role to play. Unusual for an
industry, we're actually completely united on this. This is strange. The airline industry has got together and agreed on measures to address our
impact on the environment, and we've set ourselves what I believe are very challenging - you know - targets to ensure that, you know, we play our
parts in ensuring that going forward, aviation has less of an impact on climate change than we have today.
QUEST: But you need help, or what is it you need from government?
WALSH: Yes, we need a framework from government, you know. With a part of the solution is a global mechanism for carbon trading. It's not
good enough that we have these regional (ph) devices because you get this patchwork quilt of overlapping regulations which never work in the
interests of the industry, never worked in the interests of the consumer. And I would actually - don't actually - work in the interests in the
environment either. So, what we want is we want a global scheme that covers aviation, and the only way we can do that is to get governments to
agree to construct one and to apply it in an even fashion across the world.
QUEST: This is about a trading scheme - an ongoing scheme. It's going to be very difficult to get that level of agreement that will - that
will allow you to implement. So why are you going for this?
WALSH: Yes, I agree it will be very difficult but not impossible. And I think we've got to push for something that is difficult but will make
a difference. And we believe that this is the only option to ensure that the industry can play its full part. We can do certain things as an
industry - we're investing collectively trillions of dollars in new aircraft that will be much more fuel efficient than the aircraft that they
will replace. They'll also be quieter, you know, they will produce less noxious emissions impacting on local air quality. So the industry will
play its part. We're pursuing and spending a lot of money developing sustainable biofuels. What we want is we want assistance from regulators
and governments -
QUEST: Money.
WALSH: Well not money actually. The - you know - what we want is we want schemes that will incentivize - in the same way as they're
incentivizing, you know, sustainable fuels for cars. So why is this that governments are prepared to pay for research and development to have more
efficient cars knowing that airlines, aviation, aircraft really depends on a carbon-based fuel and a liquid fuel for some foreseeable, you know, for
the foreseeable futures.
QUEST: Airlines have a target on them in terms of political regulators and lobbyists.
WALSH: Yes, and the industry has got to push back against that. And the industry's got to demonstrate that we as an industry can't do a lot. I
don't want to shame governments into responding because we've come up with the formula, we've come up with the targets. These targets are aggressive.
No other industry that I'm aware of has actually set such challenging targets for themselves. And what we're saying is now, OK, regulate us, but
regulate us to ensure that we achieve these targets. If you tax us, we're not going to do anything to improve the environment. Taxation has been
proven to be ineffective when it comes to environmental action.
QUEST: Why do you think the airline industry has managed to become the whipping boy of this climate issue?
WALSH: I think the real reason is although our contribution today you could argue is small - right around 2 percent or slightly over 2 percent.
The problem is people recognize that that contribution is going to grow. As other industries can see a way to replace carbon-based fuels, we cannot
as yet identify a ready solution to that. And that's why I think people recognize that going forward, our contribution to man-made CO2 will
increase unless we can come up with measures to accelerate the de- carbonization of the air transport industry.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: Oh, the romance, the glamour, the civilization. All in the past with legroom and free checked baggage consigned to the lost luggage
room of history. Passengers are turning on each other and we'll look at who's to blame for courtesy going out of the window.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: These little devices are called the knee defenders and they've been the cause of many problems this year. The knee defender, when
attached to the seat in front prevents it from going all the way back into your lap. Two flights had to be diverted after fights broke out between
passengers. The inventor of the product, Ira Goldman, was resolute. He told me it's not his brainchild that's to blame for all this argy-bargy in
the air - it's the airlines.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
IRA GOLDMAN, INVENTOR OF THE KNEE DEFENDER: Eleven years on the market and this hasn't happened. People use it responsibly.
QUEST: Isn't it better practice just to be courteous when you recline your seat? Do it slowly, look behind, maybe inform the passenger behind
that you're going to be reclining the seat and do it with a smile. Wouldn't that be a more courteous and preferable way?
GOLDMAN: It's also courteous to knock on a door before you enter if it's the bathroom. But people don't, so you lock the door. And then
people - and people try to come in, and you say `there's someone in here.' But when you're ready to leave, you move - you unlock the door, you move
out. Same thing with the knee defender.
QUEST: I suppose one could arguably say this would all be moot if the airlines gave us a little bit of extra space in economy.
GOLDMAN: That - it - yes, but well - it's not about space. It's about the moving seats. If the seats didn't recline, that would solve the
problem. If the seats reclined by the seat bottom moving forward and - so you would lose your own legroom when you recline - and those seats have
been on the market for at least 12 years - longer than knee defender. The airlines haven't installed them. I don't know why. But that's a solution.
It's - no - if I buy an economy ticket and it's this much space, that's the space I get. But I don't agree when I get on an airplane to saying, `Sure,
come and whack me on the knees.'
QUEST: The knee defender might be out of business if the trend in European and some other carriers have no reclining seats as you'll be aware
from EasyJet and Spirit and the like where the new seats don't recline.
GOLDMAN: Hey, that's capitalism. When they fix the problem, I'm out of business. I have other things to do - that would be great. That's what
the - that's why I was inspired to do this. Sure, it's a business, but the fact is the airlines can put me out of business and I'd be happy with it if
they'd simply solve the problems and protect their passengers from being hit their - and having their - equipment damaged.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: The knee defender argy-bargy. Well we've all been there. You get your seat and you discover there's no space in the overhead baggage
compartment. The size allowed depends on the airlines, and size limits are rarely enforced. One blogger had enough. He's declared war on passengers
who bring onboard excessive carry-on baggage and launched a hashtag #carryonshame encouraging passengers to post pictures of the guilty parties
on Twitter and Instagram -- the ones whose bags should clearly have been checked in. The ones who've mastered the art of Tetris (ph) stacking
carryables - a one on top of the other and failing to count handbags. And the ones who then chop it up with duty-free, working out just how much they
can get into the overhead compartment. Spud Hilton told me enough's enough.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
SPUD HILTON, TRAVEL EDITOR, "SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE": They started charging baggage fees and everybody started to use that as an excuse to
have really bad behavior. They thought, `OK, I don't want to pay 25 bucks, I don't think it's right to pay 25 bucks' -
QUEST: Right.
HILTON: So they all started bringing a steamer trunk and a duffle bag and, you know, a MINI Cooper -
QUEST: Right.
HILTON: -- and everything else trying to shove all of them.
QUEST: But then -- right, but the airlines should stop them from putting over, in the overhead. I mean, your theory and your plan is to
sort of end up with passengers having altercations and argy-bargy.
HILTON: Oh, no, I think you're all wrong about that. The plan here - because it really is a three-way thing. What you're looking at is the
passengers, the sort of folks who think they can get around the rules and are able to justify it with the baggage fees. But there's also the United,
you know, American Air, Lufthansa, everybody - we want those airlines to start enforcing the rules they already have. They have these rules, they
just don't enforce them. United's actually starting to do it but we want everybody to enforce these rules because if you do one thing, you're going
to fix the other. The third thing is actually - the bag makers are starting to make bags that are not really the size they claim they are.
QUEST: Ah!
HILTON: So you got three problems, not just one.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: Wheels down, play on the ground, baggage claimed - now it's time to get from the airport to your hotel. Well of course think about
`Taxi!' But that can be so expensive and do they actually know the way? I put two cabbies - London and New York - to the test to see if they're up to
the task.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: Gary, how long have you been driving a cab?
GARY TOBIN, LONDON BLACK CAB DRIVER: I've been driving now just short of 20 years.
QUEST: Twenty years! Do you remember when you took the knowledge?
TOBIN: You never forget when you do the knowledge.
QUEST: Black cabbies must pass one of the toughest taxi driver tests in the world - memorizing 25,000 streets and some 20,000 landmarks. Time
for some quick questions -- London Stock Exchange - where is it?
TOBIN: On Old Broad Street now.
QUEST: You've been driving eight and a half years. The New York Stock Exchange - where would that be?
AMEER KHAN, NEW YORK YELLOW CAB DRIVER: In Manhattan and Broadway in Wall Street Exchange - near Exchange Place.
QUEST: The (inaudible)?
TOBIN: Which one do you want?
QUEST: Ah, I got it. Ha-ha. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
KHAN: It started from 84th Street.
QUEST: Could you describe a run to Paddington Station?
TOBIN: You would say leave on the right Oldwych (ph), right Strand, right Aldwych, left Drury Lane --
QUEST: What do you think about the cab drivers?
KHAN: Forty percent of them are not so good driver at all.
TOBIN: -- forward to New Oxford Street, right Newman Street, left Eastcastle Street, right -
QUEST: Who drives cabs?
KHAN: It's immigrants. You're rarely going to find an American person driving a cab.
TOBIN: -- (Inaudible) Road, left on Harrow Road, can follow Harrow Road `round about toward Bishops Street. Paddington Station's on the
left.
QUEST: (CLAPPING). Rather good, this chap. Who are the best tippers?
TOBIN: Probably the Americans.
QUEST: Who are the worst?
KHAN: The French giving you - if it's - maybe they might give you 50 cents - maybe.
QUEST: The number one destination?
TOBIN: You get a lot of Harrods.
KHAN: If it's guys, some of them want to go to strip clubs.
QUEST: Do you like driving a cab?
KHAN: No.
QUEST: Oh. We're about to pass Buckingham Palace. It's a pretty cool job, isn't it?
TOBIN: People come to this from the other side of the world, and I get to work in it every day.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
QUEST: And that's the "Best of Quest" aviation special. As always, aviation and airline stories will always form a fundamental part of our
nightly conversation. Because whatever you're up to and wherever your travels may take you, I hope it's profitable.
END
