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 [...]

Source: ICAO ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu reiterated the UN agency’s call for national governments to assure the sustainable funding of their civil aviation authorities (CAAs). Her appeal was made during her opening remarks to the latest virtual coordination meeting of ICAO European and North Atlantic (EUR/NAT) Region Directors General of Civil Aviation (DGCAs). “State aviation authorities have been facing drastic reductions to their funding,” Dr. Liu highlighted, “and this has led to significant gaps between performance and oversight expectations and available resources. To overcome these challenges, a cooperative and collaborative approach with industry, and regional and international organizations, is key.” The ICAO Secretary General welcomed the ICAO EUR/NAT Office’s recent workshop to start addressing the CAA funding shortfall [...]

Source: General Directorate of Civil Aviation - Ecuador   The Emergency Operations Committee of the Galapagos Province approved on October 14 through Resolution COEP-064-GAL-14102020 the “Protocol for the Reopening of Flights to the Galapagos Islands in the framework of the Health Emergency due to COVID-19 Version 2.0 ”, In order to establish the guidelines for the process of entry and exit of passengers to and from the island region.   The document establishes the protocols for the entry and / or exit of passengers to the province of Galapagos according to their migratory category, defined in Article 39 of the Organic Law of the Special Regime of the Province of Galapagos (LOREG): permanent resident, temporary, tourist and passerby.   All [...]

Source: ACI-LAC   Airports Council International for Latin America and the Caribbean (ACI-LAC) is pleased to welcome the Puerto Rico Ports Authority as a new member of the association.   The Ports Authority is one of the main government agencies in Puerto Rico and is responsible for managing the main ports of entry and exit for passengers in Puerto Rico, as well as 9 airports in the country, among which the Rafael Hernández de Aguadilla Airport and the Mercedita Airport located in the city of Ponce.   "ACI-LAC warmly welcomes the Puerto Rico Ports Authority as a new member of the organization. We are particularly proud that the Authority has decided to join the world airports association, since with its [...]

Source: ICAO Ensuring that States coordinate and sufficiently resource their aviation strategies will underpin both the continued safety of flight and the global recovery of the aviation network as a whole, ICAO Council President Mr. Salvatore Sciacchitano and ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu declared at yesterday’s Flight Safety Foundation 2020 International Air Safety Summit.   “There should be no misconceptions regarding the dependence of the ultimate speed and effectiveness of our sector’s recovery on the degree of international coordination we establish,” the President said. “It will also be dependent on the measures we pursue being compatible with safety and security requirements; proportionate to the improvement of public health; flexible where possible to allow for a viable economic recovery; and [...]

Source: ICAO Downturns in air transport have significant and cascading impacts on tourism and hospitality markets all over the world, and recent slight upturns have been insignificant when compared to how severely global air transport and tourism have plummeted due to COVID-19.   This message was underscored today by ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu, as she addressed the latest meeting of the UN World Tourism Organization's (UNWTO's) Global Tourism Crisis Committee.   Appreciating the deep inter-dependencies of air transport and tourism, and the close and effective cooperation already established between ICAO and the UNWTO, Dr. Liu reported to the government and industry officials on hand that current trends in global mobility and connectivity continue to paint a dire economic [...]

Source: ICAO Over half the world's tourists travel by air, and aviation and tourism together deliver significant growth and development benefits which are deeply relied upon by many national economies.   This was one of the key messages delivered by ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu earlier today as she addressed the G20  high-level public-private event on Accelerating the Global Recovery of travel and tourism hosted today by the G20 Presidency, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.   A second key update provided concerned the ICAO Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART), and how its current Phase II updating of its response and recover 'Take-off' guidelines would include new recommendations to help countries evaluate testing options as a means to alleviate [...]

ICAO Council President encourages solidarity and a focus on building back more sustainably at ATAG 2020 Global Forum    Source: ICAO   In his virtual remarks to industry leaders attending the Air Transport Action Group’s (ATAG’s) 2020 Global Sustainable Aviation Forum today, ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano drew attention to how COVID-19’s impacts on global mobility had tragically impacted the lives of the hundreds of millions of economically vulnerable men and women around the world, with further negative effects on intercultural exchange and the peace and economic prosperity of many developing and developed societies.   “Given the importance of air travel to so many of our fundamental collective aspirations, and to every global citizen’s quality of life, aviation leaders have a great [...]