Oct. 11, 2022
The International Civil Aviation Association (ICAO) 41st Assembly recently concluded in Montreal, Canada, and decisions made at this meeting of global aviation leaders carry implications for all sectors of the aviation industry, including business aviation.
For example, ICAO adopted the long-term goal to achieve net-zero aviation carbon emissions. The business aviation community codified this goal last year through the renewed Business Aviation Commitment on Climate Change, which looks to achieve that milestone through advances in technology, operational improvements and infrastructure modernization and market-based measures.
“This is just one example of how our industry’s presence and activities at this critically important meeting, as represented by NBAA and the European Business Aviation Association through the International Business Aviation Council, helped drive many significant outcomes for the global aviation community,” said NBAA chief Operating Officer Chris Rocheleau.
Rocheleau further noted the assembly also yielded “positive discussions” regarding ADS-B data published by commercial flight tracking websites, a key concern for many business aircraft operators. The assembly recommended expert groups at ICAO study and address the security and safety problems that arise from such publicly-available information, with the United States and multiple other delegations voicing support for this intervention.
The assembly also reinforced plans to guide ICAO member states in aligning their aviation safety and air traffic systems with ICAO’s Standards and Recommended Practices, or SARPS. The assembly further voiced support for the application of safety management systems, as used throughout many business aviation flight operations, in ground handling services as well.
In other developments from the assembly, which concluded Oct. 7, delegates elected Poppy Khoza, director general of civil aviation for South Africa, as ICAO’s first-ever female assembly president. Russia also lost its seat among the ICAO Council’s primary members over alleged breaches of the Chicago Convention on international civil aviation, for aviation-related actions taken following its invasion of Ukraine.
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.