The Rashomon Effect

Believe it or not, but the next 10 years are probably going to be the most transformational years this industry is ever going to see.

With the advent of automation, our cities are poised to be filled with self-driving cars; and inside the fence, we’re likely going to see self-driving tugs, loaders, fuelers and even planes making airline operations run efficiently.

Operations inside the terminal will revolutionize how people travel. Automated security lanes, instant food ordering, wayfinding with smartphones, digital signage entertaining passengers and self-drop bagging and ticketing will provide an incredibly efficient operation and increase the passenger experience tenfold.

While it’s excited to look at all the possibilities building next-generation airports, Yet there’s something unforeseen it may hinder. How will this impact the next generation of leaders?

The traditional path of airport leadership starts with a love of aviation, followed by an aviation career study, then a job either at an FBO, airline or airport working in operations. But if we take away the operations, staff, how do you work your way up in the field?

During a panel discussion on automation at airports at the recent ACC/AAAE Planning, Design & Construction Symposium in Denver, JetBlue Market Planning Manager Liliana Petrova told the audience how she dislikes it when people say those jobs will go away because they won’t. They will just change as those workers will be doing coding as opposed to traditional aviation jobs.

But this change takes the aviation out of airports. In fact, the perquisite for enjoyment of aviation could even be moot, given coding skills will outweigh knowledge of how aviation works. And if you take a love of aviation out of the picture, then airports and airlines are competing against major tech companies or other high end private sector fields where arguably a talented coder could make more money and on their heads tend to offer sexier career paths than mid-level government bureaucracy position.

Airport automation isn’t something to be stopped or demonized. Technology should be embraced, not shunned. But with the industry already facing a major talent crisis, the time is more important than ever to find out how to appeal down to the high school levels to build a talent pipeline to ensure strong and dedicated leaders in years to come.

Otherwise we’re going to see a bigger shift in aviation, which isn’t going to be quite as exciting.