PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Easy Jet job cuts
View Single Post
Old 30th May 2020, 15:43
  #31 (permalink)  
PilotLZ
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Europe
Posts: 704
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Business travel cannot be eradicated by technology. There's still no technology to replace face-to-face contact for some of the most important negotiations. It's been a long while since routine work has been brought online and nobody travels to the other end of the world just to put their signature on a piece of paper. Fax and telex were widely available a good 20 years ago, now there are far more advanced versions of them for sending routine paperwork to and fro. Quick progress meetings to catch up on an already running project can also happen by Zoom. But the most important part of it, those 10% of effort that end up sealing 90% of the big deal, still require personal contact and networking - and they always will. All those important talks are something far beyond discussing an agenda by Zoom. They are what happens over dinner, in the coffee break, in the elevator. You can't form the same bond over videoconferencing.

As for leisure travel, people's memories of bad things tend to be rather short. As long as there is no external threat in the form of a looming health crisis and no restrictions exist for free travel, things will pick up. Some of our colleagues will inevitably get on the wrong side of 65. Others will decide to call it a day for other reasons. Some will perhaps successfully reinvent themselves and not go back into flying even if given the chance later on. So, there will be an end to the dogfight for every single job and for the readiness to accept any T&Cs for the sake of staying in the saddle. Ever since aviation exists, there has always been a rise after the fall - and I have no reason to believe that this time it will be different.
PilotLZ is offline