ICAO moves forward on air navigation

   Hoping to clear a muddied path forward for the airline industry and to handle the logistical hardship coming for the world’s air navigation systems, the International Civil Aviation Organization has outlined a 15-year air navigation strategy for the global airline business.
   Member states and industry organizations put together a revised Global Air Navigation Plan during ICAO’s Air Navigation Conference in Montreal. The plan includes a block upgrade strategy, which sets performance metrics and technology-upgrade timelines. The specific items to be addressed weren’t released in an ICAO statement about the conference.
   “Several states and regions had already embarked on their own efforts to begin addressing these issues with the latest in technologies and procedures, but it was clear that the global aviation system needed to adopt a standardized global solution to ensure optimized efficiency and investment certainty for all players,” ICAO Council President Roberto Kobeh González said in the statement.
   ICAO produced this plan in order to handle the massive influx of air activity predicted over the next 20 years. Much of these increases will be limited to a few member states, so the plan also allows for a flexible approach, allowing ICAO members to adapt parts of the proposal only as needed.
   “Establishing clear operational objectives may sound easy, but it required a significant advance effort on behalf of our entire community to realize this conference’s success,” ICAO’s Nancy Graham stated. “What’s important now is that we get to work on the 140 new work items the Conference established for ICAO.” – Jon Ross