The light beyond the clouds

Beyond the dark clouds there is light. Is this a topical description for the past, present and future of our industry? In the past, it was our ambition to travel fast and above the weather that inspired the development of the jet engine by its inventors, Sir Frank Whittle and Dr Hans von Ohain in the late 1930s and early 1940s. A similar sentiment may be seen in the motto of the Royal Air Force, per ardua ad astra (through adversity to the stars). Since the 1950s, millions of flights carrying billions of passengers have burst into bright sunlight when taking off from a grey-weather airport to fly above the clouds; similarly, millions of tourists have left cloud-bound climates to enjoy the sunshine in distant places; places that would have been inaccessible to the majority in the absence of massive investments and the efforts of thousands of engineers in the technology for advanced, reliable and very safe propulsion systems.

Society in general, and our industry in particular, is now passing through a dark cloud arising from the tragic health and economic consequences of Covid-19. However, the recovery prospects are good in the medium term. The pandemic has brought about significant changes in the working patterns of many economic sectors and suppressed both leisure and business travel.