The airline battle to reduce costs, increase yields and improve efficiencies is effective well beyond expectations.

The first priority of all concerned was maintaining operations at Heathrow with 35 percent less fuel supply. Airline co-operation was critical and we have achieved a great and historical result.

Airports take their own commercial decisions on their ownership structure. But this must not be at the expense of exploiting airlines through higher charges.

If we reach our target of 100 percent for worldwide electronic ticketing in 2007, then the airline industry could save about $3.5 billion annually.

We are filling the planes-and with high load factors-but there is a lot to do before the industry's balance sheet recovers. The industry faces several risks. The rising price of oil continues to kill our profitability. The airlines are managing capacity as carefully as they are managing costs. As the record aircraft orders of last year are delivered, matching capacity to demand will become even more critical. And Avian Flu is the wild card for 2006.

Airlines moved fast after Sept. 11, re-engineering, restructuring. But governments have not played a role,