Source: ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) welcomed the announcement this week on the easing of Gulf airspace restrictions.   “This resolution to the former Gulf airspace restrictions will help assure that the important socio-economic benefits of international air connectivity can be better optimized among all the countries concerned,” commented Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano.   “ICAO's role is to work with and among sovereign States to ensure more open skies globally, and continuously improving levels of aviation safety, security, and sustainability.”   ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu also welcomed the new developments from the Gulf, recalling that the ICAO Secretariat, through its Regional Office in Cairo, had rapidly established contingency routes to ensure the safety and regularity of [...]

Source: ICAO ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu ended off the fourth annual ICAO Global Aviation Security Symposium (AVSEC2020)  by inaugurating 2021 as the Year of Security Culture. In her closing remarks to last week’s virtual event, which concluded on Friday and brought together over 1,500 global aviation security experts and officials, Dr. Liu noted that the over-arching goal with the Year of Security Culture initiative will be to raise security awareness in aviation operations and have the entire sector thinking and acting in a security-conscious manner. “Special and multi-agency events will be conducted, and supplemented by a series of global and regional activities focused on innovations in cybersecurity, Unmanned Aircraft Systems, air cargo, and pandemic recovery,” she emphasized. “From [...]

Source: ICAO ICAO made further progress on its global aviation pandemic response initiatives this week, as civil aviation regulatory heads from around the world took part in the latest round of recovery coordination meetings hosted virtually by the agency’s Regional Offices.   Speaking separately to all ICAO regions starting from 7 December until 18 December, ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu updated the national air transport authorities on the latest ICAO CART Phase II COVID-19 recovery recommendations.   She also underscored that her remarks were set against a backdrop of revised ICAO forecasts for a 60% sector-wide traffic downturn for 2020, and stressed that overall sectoral resilience and recovery continue to strongly rely on how governments align their responses and [...]

Source: ICAO ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano and UK’s Minister for Aviation, Maritime & Security, Robert Courts MP recently exchanged views on the current state of the aviation sector in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both leaders expressed their shared commitment towards the industry’s recovery and ongoing efforts towards increased global mobility. President Sciacchitano also expressed his appreciation for the UK’s new COVID-19 testing strategy for international arrivals, highlighting to the Minister that the initiative is in line with the recommendations issued by the ICAO Council’s Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) concerning medical testing guidelines.

Source: ALTA Despite the challenges and uncertainty that the aviation industry has faced this year, ALTA celebrates the realization of a successful ALTA CCMA & MRO Conference with great milestones and a powerful message: it is possible to resume travels and face-to-face business meetings when safety protocols are taken. The agenda of the fourteenth edition of the ALTA CCMA & MRO Conference featured multiple networking spaces, meetings of ALTA’s Technical & MRO and Technical Purchasing committees, about 750 mini-meetings between airline and supplier representatives, an academic agenda focused on the efficient management of the operation during and after crisis and an exhibition area with table tops from 21 industry companies. Within the different activities, the message on the importance of [...]

Source: ICAO Speaking today to the 7th Meeting of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Global Tourism Crisis Committee, ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu emphasized that a combination of measures, coordinated between governments and industry, will be essential to the re-establishment of public confidence in air travel. “I wish to reaffirm ICAO’s commitment to this re-establishment of public confidence in air travel, and to getting the world travelling again,” Dr. Liu commented. She added that the UN agency for civil aviation was accelerating the sector’s recovery to bring prosperity and sustainability back to Small Island, Landlocked, and the many other countries who rely so fundamentally on the socio-economic dynamics of transport and tourism. Dr. Liu updated the tourism crisis [...]

Source: ACI-LAC As part of the ACI-LAC Annual Assembly that took place last Friday December 4, the assembly adopted the Declaration of Punta Cana. This Declaration recognizes the work of LAC airports implementing the sanitary measures that have allowed a safe restart of operations and urges the States of the region to take standardized and risk-based measures that allow a sustained recovery of the air transport industry. In view of the Covid-19 crisis, which is having an unprecedented impact on the airport industry in our region, ACILAC proposes a clear and constructive positioning to stimulate air traffic growth; achieve economic balance; allow operational efficiency; improve the passenger experience and contribute to the re-establishment of air transport activity, with the following [...]

Source: ICAO Addressing the ICAO Global Symposium on the Implementation of Innovation in Aviation today, ICAO’s leaders highlighted the sector’s high reliance on innovation to address pandemic recovery and future sustainability.  “With each new decade comes new opportunities for innovation, and I anticipate the next ten years will be one of the most exciting and challenging our sector has ever faced,” remarked ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano.  “Innovators can often be surprised by the scale of the global regulatory framework which allows for international aviation, and by the detailed responsibilities they face in having their products and services assessed and integrated into our system.”  ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu underscored the extent to which innovation will be impacting security [...]

Source: ICAO International aviation plays a key role in human affairs.  It lets us discover our world’s wondrous geographic and cultural diversity. It enables us to learn about and benefit from each other. And it connects societies through global travel and trade, advancing access to food, education and healthcare.  These benefits are critical to every country’s attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. This year’s observance of International Civil Aviation Day falls as COVID-19 has severed international connections by air, cutting off businesses from clients, keeping tourists from destinations, and disproportionately affecting the vulnerable.  It has also disrupted the operations and finances of airlines and airports worldwide, threatening their capability to assure the global supply of medicines, vaccines, humanitarian aid and [...]