Source: ICAO The ICAO Council approved six new COVID-19 recommendations today, and amended two others, as countries continue to address latest information and cooperate to optimize the role of international air transport in global pandemic recovery and ensure the speedy resumption of air travel. The new and amended recommendations and updated guidelines are contained in the High-Level Cover Document and ‘Take-off’ Guidelines issued by the Council’s Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART), established shortly after the pandemic was identified by the World Health Organization (WHO). “Following the emergence of new virus variants, the vaccine rollouts, and other innovations to battle COVID-19, the work of CART has targeted specific issues related to testing and vaccination of passengers as part of a State’s [...]

Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced results from its latest poll of recent travelers, revealing growing confidence in a return to air travel, frustration with current travel restrictions, and acceptance of a travel app to manage health credentials for travel. Travel Restrictions 88% believe that when opening borders, the right balance must be struck between managing COVID-19 risks and getting the economy going again 85% believe that governments should set COVID-19 targets (such as testing capacity or vaccine distribution) to re-open borders 84% believe that COVID-19 will not disappear, and we need to manage its risks while living and traveling normally 68% agreed that their quality of life has suffered with travel restrictions 49% believe that air [...]

Source: ICAO On the occasion of International Women’s Day (IWD2021), the 36 State ICAO governing Council has adopted concrete commitments in a new Declaration on Improving Gender Representation in ICAO’s Governing and Technical Bodies.   The new commitments include that all future ICAO Council committees, working groups, panels, and other governance or technical bodies, as well as their Chair Groups where applicable and the Council’s own Vice-President cohort, must be comprised of both men and women.   Other commitments included protecting ICAO policies and standards from gender discriminatory language, promoting gender neutral language for its own communications, and working to increase the number of women having access to Council level responsibilities.   The new Declaration also noted that #IWD2021 would [...]

Source: ICAO With the coming into effect this November of its new Global Reporting Format for Runway Surface Conditions (GRF), ICAO has agreed to partner with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) on a new joint GRF training programme.   The new online course has been specifically designed for air traffic controllers and aeronautical information service staff, and will be available for enrolment in April of this year on the ICAO Global Aviation Training website. It complements existing courses developed in cooperation with Airports Council International (ACI) for airport operations staff, and with IATA for flight crews.   “Runway safety continues to remain aviation’s biggest safety challenge, representing more than half of [...]

Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that passenger traffic fell in January 2021, both compared to pre-COVID levels (January 2019) and compared to the immediate month prior (December 2020). Because comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19, unless otherwise noted all comparisons are to January 2019 which followed a normal demand pattern. Total demand in January 2021 (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) was down 72.0% compared to January 2019. That was worse than the 69.7% year-over-year decline recorded in December 2020. Total domestic demand was down 47.4% versus pre-crisis (January 2019) levels. In December it was down 42.9% on the previous year. This weakening is largely driven [...]

Source: IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released January 2021 data for global air cargo markets showing that air cargo demand returned to pre-COVID levels (January 2019) for the first time since the onset of the crisis. January demand also showed strong month-to-month growth over December 2020 levels. Because comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19, unless otherwise noted all comparisons to follow are to January 2019 which followed a normal demand pattern. Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), was up 1.1.% compared to January 2019 and +3% compared to December 2020. All regions saw month-on-month improvement in air cargo demand, and North America and Africa were the strongest performers. [...]

Source: ICAO Speaking to European and North Atlantic Directors General of Civil Aviation (DGCAs) very recently, ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu emphasized that while COVID-19 vaccines are now offering hope of a more imminent pandemic recovery globally, closer collaboration and procedural alignment among air transport stakeholders will be needed to get the billions of doses to their destinations safely, securely and rapidly.   “We must continue to reinforce to decision makers that air cargo supply chains are critical to these efforts,” Dr. Liu remarked. “ICAO has published safety and security guidelines for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, and we’ve also enacted our Vaccine Action Plan to more efficiently align vaccine efforts with applicable CART guidance and other ICAO provisions [...]

Source: ICAO The 36-State governing body of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the ICAO Council, has appointed Mr. Juan Carlos Salazar of Colombia as the new Secretary General of the Organization for a three-year term, beginning 1 August 2021. He succeeds Dr. Fang Liu of China, who has held the position for two consecutive terms since 2015. Mr. Salazar was appointed based on his extensive professional experience in the administration of complex organizations at the national, regional and international levels. He is also an expert in aviation law and standards with more than 26 years of experience in international negotiations in the fields of aviation, management, and public policy. Since January 2018, Mr. Salazar has been serving as Director [...]

Source: FAA The FAA issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD) (PDF) tonight that requires U.S. operators of airplanes equipped with certain Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines to inspect these engines before further flight. The FAA is taking this action as the result of a fan-blade failure that occurred Saturday on a Boeing 777-200 that had just departed from Denver International Airport. Although the aircraft landed safely, the failure resulted in damage to the engine, an in-flight engine fire, and damage to the airplane. After reviewing the available data and considering other safety factors, the FAA determined that operators must conduct a thermal acoustic image (TAI) inspection of the large titanium fan blades located at the front of each engine. TAI technology can detect [...]

Source: ICAO ICAO and the World Customs Organization (WCO) have published a joint statement calling on governments to demonstrate maximum flexibility with respect to border clearance and air transport supply chain operations essential to the effective distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and related medical supplies.   In a separate but related development, the two agencies have also developed new guidelines to help countries achieve better alignment of their customs and security procedures.   Signed by ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu and WCO Secretary General Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, the joint statement on vaccines urges the rapid establishment of the infrastructure needed to support end-to-end vaccine storage and logistics for public supplies.   Improved open collaboration between the aviation and customs communities [...]