Caption: Dr. Fang Liu, Secretary General of ICAO, (centre), and from left to right, Mr. Alexandre de Juniac, the Director General and CEO of IATA; Mr. Simon Hocquard, the Director General of CANSO; Ms. Angela Gittens, the Director General of Airports Council International; and Mr. Eric Fanning, the Chairman of the International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Associations at the launch of the second edition Aviation Benefits Report
On the sidelines of the International Civil Aviation Organization’s 40th Assembly this week, the second edition Aviation Benefits Report was launched by the global air transport Industry High Level Group (IHLG).
Comprised of ICAO, the Airports Council International (ACI), the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and the International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Associations (ICCAIA), the IHLG works to promote and safeguard the socio-economic benefits of air transport.
Populated with many real-world examples of how air transport is improving the lives and livelihoods of billions of people around the world today, the 2019 Aviation Benefits Report provides a helpful and consolidated view of aviation’s current socio-economic impacts, challenges, and objectives.
Key priorities it underscores include the need to mainstream air transport sector development objectives in States’ national economic development planning so that air connectivity can be optimized as an economic development driver for travel, tourism, and trade.
Also highlighted was the need to promote diversified funding and financing sources for infrastructure development and modernization, and to maintain or augment air transport prioritization of the safety, security and efficiency performance assured through effective compliance by national governments with ICAO’s global standards.
“The release of this new edition of this report is very timely, given that it coincides not only with ICAO’s 40th Assembly, but also a new UN-wide campaign to refocus global attention on States’ achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted under Agenda 2030,” commented ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu.
The second edition report also illustrates how international connectivity expands the ability of local communities and businesses to access foreign supplies and markets, enhances opportunities for cultural and social exchange, and its important contributions to emergency and humanitarian response capabilities.
The new Aviation Benefits Report therefore calls on air transport stakeholders to reinforce their efforts toward minimizing the environmental effects from civil aviation activities, including through the attainment of the sector’s current aspirational goals of carbon neutral growth from 2020.