A Word From the Director General
Kurt Edwards
We are preparing for lots of engagement with our members and the business aviation community at EBACE in Geneva later this month:
The IS-BAH Standards Board will hold its annual meeting and IS-BAH celebrates its 10th anniversary of elevating ground-handling safety this year.
IBAC will recogni
ze participants in the IS-BAH and IS-BAO programmes that have reached key milestones in a reception mid-week.
IBAC will actively support and participate in sustainability events throughout the week at the Sustainability Summit.
We will hold the first Industry Advisory Forum (IAF) with our Industry Partners and Governing Board representatives, assembling the global village square for business aviation.
The International Dinner with the Member Associations and Industry Partners will follow the IAF, and we will wrap up the week with our Governing Board meeting.
Of course, IBAC will have a stand (J85), so please stop by to meet the team. We look forward to seeing you in Geneva and engaging with you about how we can work together to advance the safety, sustainability, and growth of business aviation around the world.
ICAO
Andreas Meyer, ICAO Liaison
The ICAO Air Navigation Commission and Council commenced their respective spring Sessions and will focus on deliberations ahead of the Air Navigation Conference.
SUSTAINABILITY
Capt. Claude Hurley, Director, Environment & Flight Operations
Looking forward to a productive series of events in May, starting off with representing business aviation at the third in-person meeting of ICAO’s Advanced Air Mobility Study Group (AAM-SG), tasked with advising ICAO’s secretariat of the regulatory work needed in this rapidly evolving sector.
On the 23rd of May, I will be moderating discussions at the SAF EU Congress in Amsterdam, on the theme of ‘Business and Regional Aviation Focus: What does sustainability look like, and what role do Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), offsets, as well as Book and Claim have to play?’ Planned topics for this discussion include: the importance of SAF in reducing emissions from flight operations; how business aviation operators can be changemakers for the wider adoption of SAF, how effective book and claim systems can better connect SAF consumers to suppliers; and the evolving role of offsets. Distinguished panelists will be Toby Edwards (Fly Victor); Laura Hutchinson (RMI); Johan Maertens (ASL Group); and Adam Twidell (Halo Aviation).
Looking forward to meeting up with those of you that will be at EBACE later this month, and inviting all to participate in the conversations happening at the Sustainability Summit, including the Panel that I will be moderating on how business aviation sustainability is about more than CO2 emissions. It promises to be an interesting discussion with four eloquent panelists: Gregoire James (IAWMA); Bruce Parry (Bombardier); Kennedy Ricci (4Air); and Nicola-Jane Sellers (LuxAviation).
Industry Partner Programme
Leo Knaapen, Head, Industry Partner Programme
The Industry Partner Programme momentum accelerated on multiple fronts in April as IBAC’s “Global Village Square” grows and becomes more active. The IPP team now stands at 16 organizations thanks to Universal Weather & Aviation, Inc and McKay Experts joining as Associate Partners in April. Based in Houston, Texas and with operations centers worldwide, Universal Weather & Aviation, Inc is a top provider of international trip services and support.
McKay Experts is our first IPP member from the aircraft appraisal sub-sector. Based in Bottighofen, Switzerland, McKay Experts focuses across regions traditionally associated with German-speaking Europe including Vilnius, Vienna, Zurich, Hamburg, and Munich. Welcome aboard to both Universal Weather & Aviation and McKay Experts!
IBAC proceeded with its plans to organize and host the first-ever Industry Advisory Forum (IAF) in Geneva in May to brief IPP members regarding developments and current challenges at ICAO and to exchange views on industry priorities. IAF will convene twice annually: after the EBACE convention in May and the NBAA-BACE convention in October; specifically, on the afternoon of Day 3, prior to the traditional International Dinner. Every IPP member will have one seat at each event.
Kudos to Bombardier, our first very first IPP member, for unveiling its new brand identity in late April with a new logo celebrating the company’s successful shift towards pure-play business aviation. Congratulations to Bombardier!
Looking forward to seeing everyone at EBACE!
IS-BAO
Andrew Karas, IS-BAO Programme Director
IS-BAO Initial and Recurrent Workshops were well attended. Organizations looking for group training options can contact us at isbao@ibac.org
The IS-BAO PS3 meeting had an outstanding presentation by MedAire to update our group on security topics related to business aviation and threats worldwide.
Great new series of SafetyNet webinars has been posted to the website, check it out: Webinars & Videos | International Business Aviation Council (IBAC). Thank you, Polaris Aero, for leading the discussions and topics.
The New IS-BAO Initial and Recurrent training events have been scheduled through September 2024. For those interested in FAA Part 5 SMS requirements, we have teamed up with Aviation Safety Solutions on an IS-BAO Initial Training and FAA Part 5 SMS Differences Course scheduled for 16-18 July. Stay tuned: International Business Aviation Council | Workshops (ibac.org)
IS-BAH
Terry Yeomans, Programme Director
Steven Abreu-Hill, IS-BAH Audit Manager recently attended the ICAO Europe and North Atlantic Second Meeting to the EASPG Regional Working Sub-Group on Intelligence Gathering and Analysis (IGA/02 (25-26 April 2024) in Dublin. He gave a presentation on improving business aviation ground handling safety alongside other presentations from EASA, ACI Europe and Eurocontrol. We were pleased to see that each of the other group’s presentations had mentioned the IS-BAH alongside ISAGO as an example of industry standards.
On May 05th, Steven will also be part of a panel at the Aviation Insurance Association 2024 Conference in New Orleans discussing the values of SMS in reducing risk for FBOs.
April workshops were well at
tended, next workshops in June are filling up fast.The 10th IS-BAH Standards Board will take place ahead of EBACE on Monday May 27th, 2024, at PalExpo.
