Aviation World comes to ICAO next week- what’s the US to do
On a triannual basis, 193 Member Nations of ICAO send delegations to Montreal to discuss an agenda that will set the UN agency’s agenda. The 42nd Assembly that starts in a week and the initial “programme” is 540 items long, and is organized under the following headings: Administration, Economic, Executive, Legal, Plenary and Technical.
The country that hosted the Chicago Convention has had a leadership role over the organizations 80 years. Unfortunately, the U.S. Ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization U.S. Ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) position has been vacant since Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger officially resigned from his role as effective July 1, 2022. He had been confirmed to the post in December 2021 and presented his credentials in February 2022, serving just over six months.
Who will lead the US team in Montreal has not been made public as-of-yet. This event holds potential impacts on global aviation safety, air traffic control and environmental policies in significant ways. WHO WILL LEAD THE US TEAM is not just a rhetorical question.
A quick review of themes on the agenda shows the significance of this Assembly and suggest that the person sitting at the US chair should have gravitas:
- Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Production– the US has made significant advances on this complex environmental issue, including research about the chemistry and initial proposal for refining/distribution/use in existing and/or new engines. The current Administration has been officially renamed Sustainable Aviation Fuel under the new name Synthetic Aviation Fuel in U.S. Department of Energy materials. This semantic shift emphasizes economic benefits for American producers and workers over climate messaging. Despite the name change, technical standards and emissions requirements remain aligned with international protocols
- Pilot Age 67 change– Administrator Bedford is on the record supporting the proposal to raise the international age limit for commercial pilots to 67 years from 65.
- US Dues for ICAO- The Contributions to International Organizations (CIO) account—used to pay U.S. assessments to ICAO and other bodies—faces an 82% cut under the House FY25 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. The White House statement and HR fiscal belt-tightening sends a message, albeit premature as of early September, that it will attract a lot of interest among the Members in attendance next week.
- USOAP & SSP-IA Knowledge Sharing The FAA should be a vocal advocate for encouraging ICAO to evolve its Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) by integrating lessons from safety oversight and state safety programs.
- DEI at ICAO- no doubt that 46th’s person at the 42nd will have something negative to say about this list of proposals unless some diplomatic advantage can be gained by silence.
- The ICAO principles make it clear that aggressive military actions in civil aviation are prohibited. Several of these items are claims by country aggressors claiming that they are the aggrieved parties. These agenda items would give the US representative to harangue the malfeasants cited—
- The White House issued a very ambitious policy statement to expedite SSTs through the regulatory hurdles through to operation. This agenda item requires diplomatically delicate intervention- fast forward for sure, but not so much on this coordination stuff, especially with Russia?
ICAO Assembly 42 may be a watershed moment in the US’s influence on global aviation. If played poorly, our country leadership on aviation safety, environmental standards, air traffic control and a host of other principles could be diminished. Hopefully a skillful performance by the US team could reestablish our position which has suffered blows in the recent past.
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