By Thomas Reynaert, IATA Senior Vice President, External Affairs
After spending a few years working in the tech sector, it is great to be back in the aviation family. One of my first assignments with IATA was the 42nd Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) which concluded earlier this month. It was the perfect reminder of one of the fundamental tenants of global aviation—global standards.
It’s taken for granted that airlines operate to the same standards in all parts of the world. Whether landing in Hanoi, Houston, or Hamburg the rules are, at their heart, the same. That is foundational to safety, security, efficiency and the sustainability of airlines. And it would be no exaggeration to say that without global standards we’d live in a much less connected world.
ICAO is where governments set these standards, based on a continuous review and update by working bodies covering all areas of aviation. The Assembly sets the general direction in which ICAO’s work should be focused. That’s makes the Assembly a critically important meeting. And IATA’s role at the Assembly is an essential component of its outcomes—providing technical expertise and data (that only operators of aircraft have) to help governments set the direction of their standard-setting work.
Aligning 193 countries around a single agenda is no small task. And it’s not easy to see how the hundreds of working papers, countless meetings (formal and informal), and thousands of delegates come together in a final report. Yet after an intense two weeks it all came together. The ICAO Assembly is a prime example of multilateralism not just at work but producing positive results that have real impact.
IATA’s top issues included sustainability, taxation, consumer protection, the allocation of radio frequency spectrum, accident investigation, pilot age limits and GNSS interference. IATA submitted 14 working papers, supported many initiatives of other participants and clearly voiced concern on papers that we felt were not in the best interest of travelers, shippers and the airlines that serve them.
The good news is that there was very strong alignment between IATA’s views and the outcomes of the Assembly.
Our proposals to more broadly share and use ICAO’s Universal Safety Oversight data in standard-setting and industry expertise in security, for example, were well-received and will contribute to a better-informed process in standard making. Moreover, the Assembly reaffirmed the importance and fitness of the current regime for slot allocation and the relevance of the ICAO principles for setting airport charges.
An equally important indication of fundamental alignment were decisions to encourage others to live up to global standards and policies. That was the case with the Assembly asking governments to complete accident investigation in line with Annex 13 requirements, keep flying safe by mitigating the impact of interference to GNSS systems, allocate radio frequency spectrum with appropriate guard bands, uphold ICAO principles on consumer protection, and protect ICAO’s role and agreements in matters concerning the taxation of international aviation.
On the topic of sustainability, the Assembly’s decisions reinforced our top priorities. It reaffirmed the global commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 (the Long-Term Aspirational Goal) and set up a program to support states in this effort. It also endorsed CORSIA as the single global market-based measure and launched the ICAO Finvest Hub to mobilize financing for decarbonization. And our calls for a global SAF accounting and reporting framework and making more EEUs available to strengthen CORSIA implementation were also supported.
Lastly, the Assembly’s work gave an important indication of the direction in which states should move on our proposal to raise the mandatory retirement age of pilots to 67. Although there were differing positions from states, the Assembly gave broad support for ongoing efforts to collect data in order to assess the feasibility of raising the pilot age limit.
Much more was agreed than I could recount in this brief reflection. The important point is that the conclusion of the Assembly gives focus to the start of a very broad three-year work program. With an agreed agenda, IATA will be working to support ICAO in its continuing work and governments on implementation. There is more than enough to keep us all busy until the Assembly meets again in 2028.
The last thought that I will share is about optimism. Not only did the Assembly demonstrate that multilateralism can work. It also confirmed a broad alignment on the value created by using multilateralism and global standards to support the success of the aviation sector.
No country disputed the criticality of aviation to their economies. On the contrary, speaker after speaker emphasized aviation’s role in improving the lives of people around the world. That key and unique message is the motivation that we all have—industry participants and governments—to ensure that we arrive at the 43rd Assembly with a long-list of successes over the intervening years and even greater ambitions for aviation’s future.
> Read IATA's papers and positions at ICAO's 42nd Assembly
