The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expressed high expectations for the decisions that states will make at the 38th Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
“Climate change will be at the top of the Assembly’s agenda. We will be looking to states to make decisions that will enable the industry to meet its ambitious commitment to stabilizing its emissions from 2020 via carbon-neutral growth (CNG2020). It is important that governments keep firmly focused on reaching agreement on a global solution. Environment is a global challenge. Aviation is a global industry. And we need a global way forward. National or regional schemes are politically charged distractions. We must not allow such discussions to get in the way of important progress that needs to be made,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
Governments and industry share a target for aviation to achieve CNG2020. There is also a common understanding that this will be accomplished through a four-pillar strategy of improved technology, more efficient infrastructure, and better operations. The fourth pillar, market based measures (MBMs), will also be needed to fill the gap until the other elements of the strategy achieve their full potential.
While all four pillars of the strategy are important, finding a global approach to market based measures is expected to continue to be the main focus of discussion among governments.
Passenger Rights and Consumer Protection
The industry is also keen to see governments endorse a globally coordinated approach to consumer protection. IATA submitted a passenger rights working paper calling on governments to agree a set of high level core principles on consumer protection to combat the proliferation of uncoordinated national and regional passenger rights regimes. Taking into consideration the consequences to the consumer of such regulatory fragmentation, the Sixth Worldwide Air Transport Conference urged the development of core principles for consumer protection. IATA’s 2013 AGM unanimously approved a resolution outlining such core principles. IATA is asking the Assembly to utilize these principles as ICAO seeks to develop a common approach among governments and to urge states to incorporate the IATA resolution’s principles into existing and future passenger rights regimes.
In a related working paper, IATA encouraged states to adopt the Montreal Convention 1999 (MC99). While MC99 established a modern, fair and effective regime to govern liability to passengers and shippers on international flights, to date only 103 ICAO Member States (54%) are parties to it. Universal acceptance of MC99 will mean that governments can truly ensure that a modern and fair liability regime would apply to passenger and cargo claims, whatever the route or destination involved. Likewise, since MC99 facilitates the use of the electronic Air Waybill (E-AWB), universal acceptance means governments can be sure their industry stakeholders that rely on air cargo connectivity can avail themselves of faster shipment times, and lower costs on a global scale.
The ICAO Assembly is a triennial event that opens on 24 September 2013 in Montreal with delegates from ICAO’s 191 member states deliberating on some of the global air transport industry’s most pressing issues until the Assembly closes on 4 October.
