As football’s governing bodies prepare for the largest FIFA World Cup in history, aviation executives gathering in Rio de Janeiro for the IATA Annual General Meeting find themselves confronting a similar question. The Americas have been handed home advantage. The United States, Mexico and Canada will host a tournament expected to attract millions of international visitors, while airlines across the hemisphere are adding capacity, opening routes and positioning themselves for a decade of growth. Yet as any football supporter knows, hosting the tournament does not guarantee lifting the trophy. Talent matters. Infrastructure matters. Execution matters even more.

For an industry often accused of moving too slowly on climate change, aviation has spent the better part of a decade doing something remarkable. It has aligned around a single destination. Net zero by 2050 is no longer seriously contested within commercial aviation. Airlines, airports, manufacturers, fuel producers, regulators and governments broadly agree on the objective. The challenge is no longer ambition. The challenge is execution.