A Word From Our Director General
Kurt Edwards
Early this month, the IBAC Planning and Operations Committee (POC) met virtually. It goes without saying that the central concern of our industry remains how to facilitate the re-opening of international travel. It is a topic that continues to be at the center of work at ICAO, but the broad set of complicated issues is mainly within the public-health domain and can be political. The POC asked IBAC to build further on its work at ICAO on this matter, and IBAC will follow up shortly with the membership.
Safety and sustainability figured prominently in the discussions as well. The IS-BAO programme continues to innovate and grow, and the IS-BAH programme has become even more well known by aviation authorities around the world. Regarding sustainability, IBAC remains active in ICAO efforts to assess the feasibility of a long-term carbon-reduction goal and press for other measures to reduce carbon emissions, including sustainable aviation fuel. You’ll note below information on the April SAF Summit in Europe sponsored by the European Business Aviation Association, in which IBAC looks forward to participating.
One final note: Latin America will soon be home to the next ICAO Secretary General. Mr. Juan Carlos Salazar Gómez, the current Director General of Civil Aviation in Colombia, was elected by the ICAO Council at the end of February. He will take office on 1 August 2021, replacing Dr. Fang Liu of China, who will have served for two terms.
ICAO
Andreas Meyer. IBAC Director, ICAO Liaison
Over the last month, IBAC has increased and prioritized its involvement with ICAO to work on finalizing the updated COVID19 recovery guidelines, which are expected to be released by the end of the month.
IBAC has participated in the first meeting of the newly established ICAO Personnel Licencing Panel and continued its involvement in advocating a wide range of SMS applicability for all Business Aviation community sectors at the ICAO Safety Management Panel.
IS-BAO
Bennet Walsh, Programme Director
The IS-BAO Advanced Air Mobility effort has begun with Phase 1. This first phase is to develop IS-BAO audit capability and guidance that supports the integration of unmanned vehicles into a flight department. The working group consists of several IS-BAO operators that have integrated unmanned vehicles or are solely unmanned. The group also includes an ICAO RPAS panel member and the IS-BAO team.
The IS-BAO progressive programs Progressive Stage 3 (PS3) and FlightPlan Stage 1 continue to grow with new operators. Please contact isbao@ibac.org for information.
IS-BAH
Terry Yeomans, Programme Director
ICAO Safety Management Panel discuss the inclusion of Ground handling at the recent SMP/WG/5. The proposal from IBAC will need further work between now and June to gain further traction and the IS-BAH team will continue to modify our proposal based on the feedback received.
ICAO Ground Handling Task Force (GHTF) will meet in Mid-March to promote and develop further guidance for SMS and ground handling along with the harmonization of ground handling standard operating procedures.
IS-BAH registrations at Stage 1 are close to the 250 mark, with the first European Stage 3 registration recently approved. ABS Jets in Prague is now both IS-BAH Stage 3 and IS-BAO Stage 3 for its operations.
SUSTAINABILITY
Bruce Parry, IBAC Environment Director
The Business Aviation SAF Coalition are hosting another virtual SAF Summit, which is being organised by the EBAA and GAMA. Athar Husain Khan, Secretary General of the EBAA will be the Master of Ceremonies for the event being held on the 20th April 2021 at 14.00 Central European Time. Registration is free and more details are available HERE.
The event brings together high-level EU officials from all relevant institutions – EU Commission, Council and Parliament – and the entire Business Aviation value chain under one goal: accelerating the availability and use of SAF in Europe. The guests of honour will be Adina-Ioana Vălean, European Commissioner for Transport and Jan-Christoph Oetjen MEP, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN).
There will be three panels that will discuss:
1) The Business Aviation Commitment on Climate Change and SAF
2) The European Commission’s ReFuelEU Aviation Initiative and
3) Next steps to increase uptake of SAF in Europe.
IBAC's Director General, Kurt Edwards will also contribute to the Summit from an international perspective by contributing closing remarks during the final session.
We look forward to welcoming you on the 20th April 2021.
VISIT THE IBAC STORE
We've added IBAC Swag, available to those who want to promote IBAC, and the IS-BAO, IS-BAH Programmes. Visit the store today.! (note that IS-BAO and IS-BAH Registered organizations may choose to order items with official Stage seals through there IS-BA portal or contact comms@ibac.org for access.)
Source:campaign-archive.com
