The Annual ‘Airlines’ conference in London, co-organized by IATA, Airlines UK, BAR UK, and Flight Global, pulled in its usual stellar crowd of top speakers and delegates on November 11th. Held as always at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament, the event is undoubtedly the leading UK Aeropolitical event.
The list of speakers was led by Heidi Alexander, Secretary of State for Transport, and the cast list included Sean Doyle (CEO, British Airways), Corneel Koster (CEO, Virgin Atlantic), Kenton Jarvis (CEO, Easyjet), Thomas Woldbye (CEO, Heathrow), and Martin Rolfe (CEO, UK NATS).
Moderators from the Financial Times, London Times and Sunday Times, the BBC, and Bloomberg steered a packed agenda of sessions. Master of ceremonies, ex-BBC journalist Robert Nisbet, kept things moving on time.
“The Airlines 2026 conference was a huge, combined effort from the leading players in UK aviation to set out our political and regulatory requests to the UK government and our industry partners. Cost and performance were absolutely central to discussions, particularly in the context of UK aviation competitiveness,” said Lara Maughan, IATA’s UK and Ireland Area Manager. “The importance of the opportunity provided by this conference to get our issues in front of major political and regulatory figures was confirmed by the presence of so many CEOs and leading industry figures both on stage and in the audience.”
Corneel Koster got the conference off to an energetic start kicking off a theme for the day – attention on Heathrow’s performance and costs. Virgin remain focused on the passenger experience and their COO, Suzanne Roddie, speaking on a later panel, commented that resilience matters and should be prioritised across the UK aviation ecosystem. Nathalie Bush, Loganair’s COO, was clear their value as a regional operator is providing lifeline services to remote communities who rely on their connectivity.
In her address, Ms Alexander admitted that the situation facing the airline industry was the most challenging since the pandemic, and that airlines were facing significant cost pressures. She argued that while the government hadn’t “ticked everything off your list” they were moving to improve things for the industry.
Easyjet’s Jarvis was confident about the airline’s future following the shareholder vote to accept the Apollo takeover. And he welcomed the building of a second runway at Gatwick, a positive development that Stewart Wingate (UK MD Vinci Airports, owners of Gatwick) explained was realistic and affordable.
The performance of UK NATS was in the spotlight after another technical problem earlier this year caused thousands of flights to be cancelled. Martin Rolfe apologised for the issue but focused on the positive steps NATS was taking to improve airspace efficiency. Despite his mea culpa, numerous speakers expressed their unhappiness at NATS’ performance.
Surinder Aurora outlined his company’s vision for “Heathrow West”, proposing that development of the airport be opened to competition, particularly with a cheaper, shorter runway option that would save billions by not involving construction across the M25 motorway and other sensitive areas.
A lively session giving an outsider’s perspective on the UK’s competitiveness situation was provided by Christopher T. Sununu, the former Governor of the State of New Hampshire and now CEO of Airlines for America, alongside Ourania Georgoutsakou, leader of Airlines for Europe. When confronted with the costs of Heathrow Expansion – at least GBP40 bn - Sununu summed it up best with a simple “Holy Cow!”
In his interview, Sean Doyle said that BA was in favour of Heathrow expansion “but not at any price.” He also confirmed that customers “love” the A380 and confirmed these planes would be refurbished and continue in the fleet.
Thomas Woldbye, in the final interview of the day, naturally said he supported the full-scale runway proposal under a single Heathrow operator, as the option that would bring the maximum benefits to Britain.
Other sessions at the event included deep-dives on AI, SAF development, infrastructure modernisation, and a fireside chat with the CEO of the Civil Aviation Authority.
“The discussions at the conference proved that UK aviation, despite the challenges it faces, is vibrant and positive about the potential for the future. But multiple contributions stressed that the UK cannot take its present position in the global aviation world for granted. The cost competitiveness and performance of aviation infrastructure must improve to keep Britain in the top rank and deliver the economic growth this government has committed to,” said Maughan.
