Collaboration. Cooperation. Integration. Partnership. These are all great words in private aviation. Interconnectivity is critical to the future global success of our industry. But is the growing geopolitical fragmentation of the internet, a concept known as the ‘splinternet’, a threat?
Some of the names linked to the splinternet – from ‘The Great Firewall of China’ to a German ‘Internetz’ – might sound playful but if abused, digital walls are no joke. Dividing the internet into separate national infrastructures, surrounded by barriers and full of restrictions, is hardly in line with business aviation’s spirit of global cooperation.
The commercial realities of the global digital economy may be the biggest threat to the growth of the splinternet. We have to hope politicians and economists understand what we already know in private aviation – that we all become stronger when we work together.