Aviation 2.0

With the pandemic over, how can our rebooted industry tackle the challenges and embrace the opportunities of a very different world?

In 2022, the aviation industry awakened from its pandemic-induced slumber and immediately had to fend off an almost unending list of problems. Passengers endured the worst delays in history, call centre wait times stretched for hours, and airlines lacked staff – and even aircraft – to meet demand. Yet 12 months on, and with these early teething problems mostly fixed, the sector has found itself restructured into a very different beast than it was in 2019 – and with a decade or more of fresh disruption coming its way.

Now, executives are planning for a future that will include sustainable aviation fuels, drones, new aircraft, and AI radically changing how we fly. Most challenging of all, this will have to be embraced with a new generation of recruits who have been rapidly absorbed into the industry to replace the older talent who left mid-pandemic. It’s something Brett Molesworth, the head of school at UNSW Aviation, has seen firsthand.