Progress in key economic development priorities to be driven by ICAO

The economic development of air transport has been endorsed by ICAO and it has vowed to continue to promote the important socio-economic benefits of air transport.

During its 40th Assembly this year, ICAO also endorsed:

• Objectives regarding the ICAO work programme for new aviation infrastructure/system financing
• The economics of airports and air navigation services
• Conducting appropriate cost-benefit analyses before the introduction of taxes on air transport
• Forging a more detailed understanding of the benefits of liberalisation and barriers to opening market access, both in terms of passenger and cargo services
• The continuation of ICAO’s work to develop a convention on foreign investment in airlines
• Objectives in the areas of statistics, big data analytics, forecasting and economic analysis
• The development of an aviation satellite account methodological framework.

“These endorsements by our Member States will be essential to how ICAO continues to raise global awareness on the important links between air connectivity and sustainable socio-economic development,” said ICAO Secretary General, Dr Fang Liu. “I was also encouraged that the momentum toward greater air transport liberalisation continues to accelerate.”

States have also been encouraged to apply the ICAO Core Principles on consumer protection in their regulatory practices, and urged to sign and ratify the Montreal Convention of 1999.

It was further agreed that ICAO should:

• Facilitate an exchange of views and good practices regarding the application of the ICAO Core Principles
• Provide technical expertise for the implementation of the Ministerial Declaration and Framework for a Plan of Action for Air Transport and Tourism Development in Africa
• Establish a new Global Aviation Competitiveness Index.