So what’s in the report? First, there are statistics on the economic and social benefits of air transport, details on the industry’s initiatives to tackle emissions and increase efficiency, and the contribution of the air transport industry terms of jobs and growth. At present, the air transport industry supports 58.1 million jobs and $2.4 trillion in global GDP, but projections by Oxford Economics envision that it will support 103 million jobs and $5.8 trillion in the 20 years’ time.
While the industry itself directly generates 8.7 million jobs of the 58.1 million supported by aviation, the remainder of jobs are produced by indirect and induced means. This clearly indicates that the air transport industry has a major ripple effect; one of its greatest beneficiaries is tourism, where 52% of jobs are supported by air transport.
For this reason, Michael Gill called on governments to partner with an industry that delivers so much to the global economy:
“It is vital that governments around the world look to travel and tourism as a way of boosting their tertiary economies and developing what can be a very sustainable industry. However, they must make sure that growth in aviation – like all sectors – is done with environmental considerations from the earliest planning stages. The industry is being very proactive in this area, as evidenced at the Global Sustainable Aviation Summit, and we are willing partners of governments to ensure that the positive aspects of growth are not overshadowed by avoidable negative issues.”