American Airlines President and CEO Gerard Arpey said the airline industry needs to be more aggressive in its behavior profiling of passengers and the federal government needs to allocate more money to improve safety and efficiency.

Arpey was the keynote speaker at the FAA’s Annual Aerospace Forecast Conference on Tuesday. (For more on the forecast, see
www.aviationtoday.com/av/topstories/FAA-Sees-Modest-Growth-in-2010_67052.html

Arpey said the last 10 years for the industry were “wrenching,” calling the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as the first of many “body blows to the industry.”

“Despite it all, we are still here,” he said. “We have endured the most difficult decade in our industry’s history pretty much intact.”

However, the industry is still facing a difficult set of challenges ahead, including in the areas of aviation infrastructure, security, labor issues and profits. “We have challenges that left unaddressed could dim our bright future,” he said. However, he said, “The notion that we’re on a return to less chaotic times seems far fetched because I can’t remember an easier time.”

With regards to infrastructure, he said the decrease in passenger traffic has bought the industry some time in order to deal with the deficient aviation infrastructure, specifically the air traffic control system. Arpey said he was “dumbfounded” that there was not money in last year’s economic stimulus package for upgrades to the nation’s air traffic control system.

Airport security officials have done a good job in protecting passengers, but as more and more people are flying that job is going to get more difficult, he said.

“We will need to use technology much more aggressively, and we need to use more aggressive behavioral profiling –– separating the potential bad guys from the non-bad guys,” Arpey said.

Profitability remains a concern for airlines, particularly against the backdrop of the global recession. “We cannot sustain ourselves if we do not generate a return on capital,” he said.

Emily Feliz is the managing editor of Avionics Magazine. She can be reached at efeliz@accessintel.com or 301-354-1820.

www.aviationtoday.com/emily_feliz_bio.html