From a financial perspective the global airline industry is flying at cruise altitude, propped up by strong passenger and cargo traffic and another year of stellar profits. But there are some clouds on the horizon. That’s the view from St. Petersburg, Russia, where more than 750 delegates attended the International Air Transport Association’s 74th Aviation Fuel Forum last week. The biannual gathering has drawn increasing numbers since the first meeting in 1988, which included just 15 people. Its success is attributed to extensive networking opportunities that suppliers, airlines, into-plane providers and others use for clinching jet fuel deals as well as valuable substantive sessions covering commercial and technical issues impacting the global aviation business. The crowning achievement of the Russia meeting on May 16-18 was a memorandum of understanding between IATA, Airlines for America and the Joint Industry Group (JIG) to harmonize refueling standards at more than 4,000 airports around the world, replacing a maze of different systems that complicate fueling procedures on the tarmac. 'A global industry needs a global system: one standard, one procedure and one process to follow. Three years ago no one wanted to change. Now we are aiming for a global solution,' said Lufthansa’s Fuel Director Thorsten Lange, who is also the outgoing chairman of IATA’s Commercial Fuel Group. Delta Air Lines’ Patrick Callan will be taking on that role.
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