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.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) launched the Supporting Alliance for CORSIA EEU Supply, regrouping stakeholders across the CORSIA ecosystem in efforts to boost the availability of 225-250 million CORSIA Eligible Emissions Units (EEUs) by spring 2027.

For decades, aviation executives have spoken about the “Asian Century.” At this year’s IATA Annual General Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, the numbers suggest that century has arrived. Over the next two decades, Asia-Pacific is expected to add 2.4 billion passengers, growing from 1.7 billion travellers in 2024 to 4.1 billion by 2044. That represents 41% of all global passenger growth and a compound annual growth rate of 3.8%.

The mood around European aviation at the IATA Annual General Meeting in Rio de Janeiro is one of cautious optimism tempered by growing frustration. Airlines are preparing for another busy summer. Passenger demand remains strong. Aircraft are full. Airports are crowded. Yet beneath the surface, many of the industry’s biggest challenges are becoming more acute rather than disappearing. Speaking at the AGM, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Europe, Rafael Schvartzman, painted a picture of an industry squeezed from multiple directions. Geopolitical instability, rising fuel prices, border delays, taxation, sustainability costs and airport charges are all converging at a time when Europe is attempting to maintain its competitiveness in an increasingly connected global marketplace.

Most airline passengers interact with an alliance before they realise one exists. The lounge access waiting at the other end of a long-haul flight. The frequent-flyer miles earned on a carrier they have never flown before. The ability to check baggage in London and collect it in Sydney despite travelling on multiple airlines with different owners, different liveries and different national identities. Today these experiences feel routine. In the late 1990s they represented one of the most ambitious experiments the aviation industry had ever attempted.