What lessons has industry learned from the recent spate of delayed aircraft development programmes?
We are in a field where things need to change. In the past I think we were all forced by the aircraft manufacturers to develop bespoke solutions and them to their needs. The technology was a limiting factor as well. We needed to design the pieces which could occupy a specific place on the aircraft and then be connected to a specific architecture designed by the aircraft manufacturer. I think we should see more standards in the future and we should be able to develop equipment or software applications that can be reused at least for the basic pieces on various platforms for various customers. That’s really our vision for the future – to probably have fewer spikes in our cycles of development which are hurting us and are difficult to manage. Are you encouraged by progress to date with Europe’s efforts to implement a next-generation air traffic management system? I’m amazed that it has taken so long. On paper it’s obvious, if you think of a system of systems where you gather the airport,
