Source: ICAO While delivering opening remarks to this year’s ‘Routes Reconnected’ virtual industry event focused on sectoral recovery, ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu underscored how the UN agency has been continuously stressing the pandemic’s threats to the basic sustainability of international flight, keeping related concerns “at the forefront of government and UN system consideration.”   “We know that airlines are still facing dramatically reduced flights and load factors, and that a resurgence of COVID-19 is now taking place across much of the northern hemisphere,” she said. “We know airlines cannot service routes, and keep the world connected, by managing flights without the passengers who make them financially viable. And with our ICAO forecasts now estimating a 60% reduction in [...]

Source: ICAO Efforts to offset emissions from international flights have been kept on track during the current 221st Session of the ICAO Council, with new decisions being adopted by the 36-country body on eligibility units and sustainability certification schemes supporting the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). The latest Council endorsements mean that all implementation elements for CORSIA are now complete, and that everything is prepared for the start of its pilot phase in 2021. Details around these latest decisions are available here. ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano remarked on the welcomed developments that “ICAO set out a vision for carbon-neutral growth in international aviation, and this week we have seen that vision bear fruit. The Council’s [...]

Source: ICAO Speaking to the leadership of the global airline and European aviation sectors today, ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano stressed the importance of placing solidarity, innovation, and sustainability at the heart of States’ and operators’ recovery plans.   His remarks were delivered by videoconferencing to the 76th Annual General Meeting of IATA and the AeroDays2020 Berlin Aviation Summit.   “There is an onus upon us to have the vision to look beyond this downturn and maximize the opportunities afforded by it,” the President said. “We must learn the lessons this disease is teaching us, and make our global network more resilient to future pandemic threats.”   On the topic of sectoral solidarity, President Sciacchitano drew attention to the many [...]

Source: ICAO The ICAO Council endorsed new updates yesterday to its Aviation Recovery Task Force’s (CART’s) ‘Take-off’ Guidelines for international air transport.   The new guidelines provide recommendations for countries to consider adopting per their current local medical status, and on specific priorities including general hygiene, masks and face coverings, health screening and declarations, air passengers with reduced mobility, and the mental health and well-being of aviation workers and passengers.   They also reacknowledge the sovereignty and authority of each country over its national pandemic recovery priorities, including with respect to the evaluation and use of passenger testing to help alleviate quarantine measures and reconnect destinations globally.   “Countries are urged to follow this updated guidance to align their measures, [...]

Source: ICAO ICAO and the International Forum for Aviation Research (IFAR) formalized a new agreement  aimed at accelerating and improving the effective assessment of new aviation technologies and innovations.   The agreement establishes two new ICAO-IFAR Expert Groups which will review latest innovations in the areas of urban air mobility and AI in aviation. After their first year, each group will report back to ICAO and IFAR and the two organizations will use the findings to optimize and formalize IFAR’s future contributions to ICAO and international aviation.   “This new collaboration will see IFAR’s community supporting ICAO’s activities by sharing its consensus view on current areas of technical challenge and opportunity, and in turn, ICAO will augment its ability to [...]

Source: ICAO ICAO Council States today urged the Islamic Republic of Iran to expedite the accident investigation into the tragic downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 on 8 January of this year. Diplomats from the 36 countries expressed their support for the calls on Iran subsequent to the latest report on the topic from ICAO Council President, Salvatore Sciacchitano, and a related intervention from Canada’s Minister of Transport, Marc Garneau. “We have had several exchanges with the Iranian CAA in which we urged its authorities to expedite the accident investigation in accordance with ICAO Annex 13 provisions,” Sciacchitano advised the Council State diplomats. Annex 13 encourages an accident’s final report to be issued within 12 months of the accident [...]

Source: ICAO Appreciating recent increases in domestic passenger and freight movements in the ICAO Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, ICAO Secretary General Fang Liu encouraged APAC States this week “to continue the proactive pursuit of public health corridor and other near-term travel bubble solutions,” and reminded the policy experts of the extensive information and resources ICAO has issued on how to prudently establish them.   She told a special roundtable of Asia-Pacific APAC health policy and civil aviation experts today that their public health response successes, and related efforts to establish public health corridors and travel bubbles, are helping to reconnect the region and restore public confidence in air travel.   Dr. Liu also highlighted how ICAO’s data monitoring is revealing that [...]

Source: ICAO ICAO and Airports Council International (ACI) have developed a new Global Airport Safety Professional (ASP) qualification programme to help airports improve ICAO compliance, and support critical pandemic recovery activities being aligned through ICAO, worldwide.   “The successful recovery and resumption of global air transport operations relies significantly on the technical and managerial skills of airport safety professionals and airport civil aviation regulators, and on their capacity to innovate in the face of the many challenges now confronting our sector and the societies and industries it serves”, remarked ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu.   “This new ICAO-ACI initiative will help assure we maintain a safe, secure, and efficient aviation system supporting both current essential air cargo and other [...]

Source: ICAO As part of an important two-day event bringing together ICAO North and Central American and Caribbean Directors General of Civil Aviation, and their respective ministers of health, transport and tourism, ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano and ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu delivered important updates and calls to action on the latest priorities concerning international air transport and COVID-19. The Council President told the aviation and political officials that COVID-19 has now infected over 43 million people globally, leading to over 1.2 million fatalities. “These impacts have posed tremendous challenges for national and civic leaders, and they have also shaken the air industry, and tested its resilience, but we have also adapted quickly and effectively in order to [...]