First on is IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani who makes it clear that he is not happy. Mainly with the European Union and its member governments, but also with governments in general.
Here he is at the centre of one of the day's panels - he didn't smile very much for the rest of the day either.
But he did have quite a bit to say.
Actually you can read it all here, but key points are as follows. He notes that the industry achieved a great deal in 2007 - saving a claimed 10 million tonnes-plus of CO2 through route-optimisation and spreading best practice.
His big beef is that Europe is risking trade wars by going it alone on emissions trading. And in any case, he foresees a situation in which his members are asked to sign up for emissions trading (which IATA supports) but then have to overpay for their credits because the same governments that supported trading are being generally useless in reforming air traffic management - so aircraft travel further for longer and burn more fuel. You see his point.
The good news for IATA is that he's been talking to the European Commission and getting a somewhat sympathetic hearing it seems. Bisignani is now leaning, like other delegates, on France's Sarkozy administration to get stuck into ATM reform once it takes over the EU rolling presidency this summer. Word at the conference is that the French are up for it.
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