A Word From Kurt Edwards - IBAC Director-General
Kurt Edwards
Congratulations to ABAG (Assoçião Brasileira de Aviação Geral) on its 30th anniversary, celebrated in August at LABACE in São Paulo. In August 1992, several Brazilians in business and general aviation agreed to establish an organization to represent and advocate for the industry in Brazil, a sector that has grown considerably in the last 30 years. Flavio Pires, Director General and CEO, presented to each of those gentlemen a bound copy of the original minutes of that foundational meeting. It was a pleasure and honor to witness the recognition of a visionary accomplishment for the industry in Brazil.
Later in September, ICAO’s 41st Assembly will gather 193 member states in Montreal over two weeks to shape the organization’s future work program and make decisions on recommendations from work over the last three years. The themes of the Assembly are Innovation and Resilience. With regard to innovation, ICAO is considering how to modernize its own Standards-making processes as well as how to shape its role for facilitating new entrants into the global air transport system. Think, for example, of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), advanced air mobility (AAM), and urban ATC management (UAM). Regarding resilience, the Assembly will consider how to build into the air transport system mechanisms to handle future global health emergencies or crises, mitigating their impacts so that air transport can continue to operate safely and contribute to recovery from any crisis.
In addition to these important themes, another topic will take center stage: whether to agree on a long-term aspirational goal of net-zero carbon emissions from international aviation by 2050. The business aviation sector, as well as the other air transport sectors, has outlined the path to meet this ambitious goal, involving the use of sustainable aviation fuel, new technologies, operational improvements and infrastructure modernization, and carbon offsetting. Achieving the goal will require action and support from a range of stakeholders, including governments.
At past Assemblies in which climate-related debates took center stage, the industry-proposed solution formed the basis for consensus approval. The industry’s proposed path to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 provides the way forward for this Assembly just as it did at ICAO’s recent High-Level Meeting on the topic. Having the goal adopted by the Assembly will underscore the industry’s commitment and send an important signal to relevant actors to develop and produce SAF in greater quantities and innovate on new technologies, helping the industry to decarbonize.
IBAC will represent the business aviation community throughout the proceedings and will provide updates and reports to its member associations.
ICAO
Andreas Meyer, ICAO Liaison
The 41st Session of the ICAO General Assembly will commence in Montreal on 27 September 2022. ICAO's 193 Member States and a large number of international organizations are invited to the Assembly, which establishes the worldwide policy of the Organization for the upcoming triennium. IBAC will represent the interests of business aviation and will participate with our own delegation. A post Assembly report will provide our members with the relevant proceedings and outcomes.
IS-BAH
Terry Yeomans, Programme Director
The next IS-BAH workshops are this month 12-15 September with Early Bird pricing deadline 8 September.
IS-BAO
Andrew Karas, IS-BAO Programme Director
In mid-August the IS-BAO RPAS working group met to consolidate industry and operator input from recent audits for the developing RPAS Standard.
The PS3 Leadership team met with Razvan Bucuroiu, Head of Network Strategy & Development at Eurocontrol to discuss developments in airspace deconfliction and operational outlook.
The PS3 Group also received a travel safety and security briefing from Eric Schouten from Dyami Strategic Security Services.
The next set of IS-BAO Workshops are scheduled for 3-6 October, register now for the Early Bird discount.
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.)
