Riga – IATA Director General and CEO Tony Tyler gave a speech at Latvia University on the benefits of aviation and European aviation competitiveness. His speech followed a day of discussions in Riga with Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma and Transport Minister Anrijs Matiss.
Topics addressed in the speech included comments on:
- The growth of civil aviation 100 years after the first commercial air passenger flight
- The global benefits of commercial aviation and the benefits to Latvia air transport connectivity
- The importance of cooperation between industry and government to enhance competitiveness. The profitability of European airlines lags equivalent US carriers, hampered by onerous taxes, excessive regulation, and lack of investment and reform of key infrastructure.
- The opportunity offered by Latvia’s Presidency of the EU from January 2015 to work for better regulation, to push for progress on the Single European Sky project, and to persuade governments to see aviation not as a cash cow but as a "goose that lays golden eggs".
