A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR GENERAL
Kurt Edwards
IBAC’s mission is to monitor and engage with ICAO on behalf of business aviation. Despite general stay-at-home advisories in Montréal, we have been able to maintain access to our office in the ICAO headquarters building. Andy Meyer, our Director, ICAO Liaison staffs the office and is able to engage with Council reps, air navigation commissioners, and Secretariat staff as needed.
We have found solutions that allow Aircrew Cards and registration certificates to be produced from remote locations and packaged and mailed once a week when the shipping office is open. We must ask that Aircrew card applications only be sent via email as postal mail delivery is prohibited at this time.
For the time being, and at least until 14 May 2020, ICAO and its deliberative bodies will continue to work remotely. This means that the first half of the upcoming Council and Air Navigation Commission sessions, starting 4 May 2020, will be held via remote conferencing.
In the meantime, the ICAO Secretariat is preparing the Council and ANC for discussions on steps to return to normal operations. The Council plans to establish a task force on this critical matter, which should ostensibly lead to guidance for restarting the air transport system. IBAC has already expressed its strong interest in contributing to that work as a member of the task force.
The IS-BAH and IS-BAO programmes teams have shown genuine commitment and resilience these past few months. Spread out over three continents, this amazing group continues to maintain operations, innovate with workshops via video-conferencing and remote vs. in-person audits, move forward on the IS-BAO FlightPlan Stage 1 and Progressive Stage 3 initiatives, launch a new website, and prepare for the IS-BAH Standards Board remote meeting in late May.
Overall, IBAC remains operational, albeit in different ways. Please join me in thanking the IBAC team for their commitment and willingness to innovate. Their continued dedication and energy as well as the continued support of the IBAC community remind me that, together, we will get through this exceptional time.
ICAO Update
Andreas Meyer – Director, ICAO Liaison
IBAC continues to engage with ICAO, States, and industry organizations in the global response to COVID-19. This works starts focusing on a global and harmonized plan for the recovery to normal operations. For such purposes, IBAC has participated in various ad-hoc meetings organized by ICAO, the Council, and the Air Navigation Commission.
After numerous operators raised concerns with understanding the Polish Passenger Name Records (PNR) requirements, IBAC has successfully engaged with the appropriate authorities and developed guidance material that provides clarity and instructions on how to comply. We are pleased to announce the release of this material, which can be found on our website HERE.
IS-BAO
Bennet Walsh, IS-BAO Programme Director
The IS-BAO Programme has begun developing web-based content delivery of timely information for pre-workshop preparation. The first remote audit per the IBAC remote audit policy occurred on 30 March 2020 with a Stage 3 operator in Anchorage, Alaska, and the auditor in Atlanta, Georgia. Katherine Hilst, the IS-BAO operations manager, monitored the audit to assist and collect lessons learned to share with the community.
To date, IS-BAO has accomplished seven remote audits with another six pending. Of the seven accomplished, two have been operators in the Progressive Stage 3 Option beta tests.
The IS-BAO workshops have transitioned into the remote format with the first one occurring for the Asian IS-BAO community time zones and a second in the North American time zones. We are now planning one for the European/Middle East time zones. The format has been changed from two eight-hour, in-person days to four four-hour live online webinars.
IS-BAH
Terry Yeomans – IS-BAH Programme Director
Global registrations at Stage 1 since the programme launched are approaching 230 locations. Of those, 111 have now achieved Stage 2 and three are at Stage 3.
IS-BAH Standards Board will meet virtually in May. Therefore, now is the time to provide suggestions for inclusion into the next version of the industry standards for business aviation ground handling service providers.
Virtual audits are now being conducted. Initial feedback is positive from both the organizations and the auditors. Remote, web-based workshops for IS-BAH are planned to start in June, after the Standards Board meeting. Watch for dates and times on the website.
SUSTAINABILITY
Bruce Parry - IBAC Environment Director
IBAC have called for ICAO to review the basis for the baseline for CORSIA, given the current situation across the globe. IBAC has produced a Position Paper on CORSIA emissions units and issued a press release on the subject. IBAC sent a letter to the ICAO Council, urging them to review this issue. In summary, CORSIA offsetting obligations were to use a baseline that would have been the average level of emissions during 2019 and 2020. IBAC is now calling for just 2019 to be used to establish the baseline. To use 2020 as part of the baseline process would not be in the spirit of the forecasts originally used in the development of CORSIA and would mean much higher offsetting costs for covered operators over the CORSIA period (2021 to 2035). We will keep you updated on the developments of this issue.
IBAC remain engaged in the activities of environmental protection at ICAO. We participated in the recent Stocktaking Preview webinar, which is looking across aviation, including business aviation, at current and future technology opportunities towards reducing overall environmental impacts, particularly from a CO2 point of view. The webinar was a precursor to a Stocktaking Seminar that ICAO will hold 8-10 September in Montreal, which is open to all and registration to attend can be at ICAO.int. In support of this initiative and parallel work within the Committee on Aviation and Environmental Protection (CAEP), IBAC has engaged six experts from across our industry to contribute to this activity over the next couple of years.
Source: https://mailchi.mp/ibac
