However, easyJet's own initiatives appear to be delivering and some of these will not gather momentum until next year (allocated seating, global distribution system links), giving us confidence in ongoing revenue and margin improvements.
"Washington, as the seat of global power, gives you a different overview.
Otero-Pailos said it had been essential to him to be able to realise the artwork in the Palace of Westminster itself, a building almost 1,000 years old and which, for centuries, has been a seat of global political power.
In 2008 China confirmed its seat at the global top table with the Beijing Olympics.
In 1858, the Ottoman Empire, seat of the global Islamic Caliphate, decriminalized homosexuality, nearly a hundred and fifty years before it happened everywhere in the United States.
Russia, meanwhile, is trying to reclaim a seat at the global decision-making table — beyond the use of its veto power at the Security Council — and to end Washington's tendency to enforce regime change by fiat.
She has also been given a seat on the global board of the publisher and continues as country co-ordinator for Bertelsmann UK, which includes assets such as The X Factor maker FremantleMedia and music rights business BMG.
"And that seat has a global limitation, because there are cultures in which the soles of the feet are considered unsavory, or rude, and people are uncomfortable sleeping with their feet exposed where other people are walking — mainly in Asia and the Middle East".
So SkyTeam must continue efforts to attract better-quality carriers that will offer more uniform standards of service.In any case, analysts expect to see substantial changes to the affiliations pursued by the world's three major airline alliances, which between them offer around 44% of all global seat capacity.
Although the carrier increases oneworld's share of global seat capacity by only 0.6 percentage points to 12.2%, and keeps the alliance well behind Star Alliance on 24.8%, Qatar's passenger numbers are growing fast as it adds 15 destinations this year.
