Graham Warwick/MONTREAL
Teams of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) inspectors will move out early next year to begin mandatory safety oversight audits, opening a new chapter in the history of the United Nations agency.
The programme of "regular, mandatory, systematic and harmonised safety audits" in all 185 member states was endorsed by the 32nd ICAO Assembly, which ended on 2 October - an assembly which ICAO Council president Dr Assad Kotaite says "-ushers ICAO into the 21st century".
In addition to endorsing a universal safety oversight programme which gives the organisation its first "enforcement" powers, the assembly:
adopted an interim framework enabling worldwide implementation of the communications, navigation, surveillance and air traffic management (CNS/ATM) system to proceed;
reinforced ICAO's role as the international forum for the establishment of more stringent aircraft noise and emissions standards; endorsed resolutions to speed the organisation's work on new standards, and to improve its effectiveness.The assembly was "rare", says Kotaite, because it showed "-real co-operation and understanding of the importance of safety. We did not have any votes; all resolutions were carried by consensus".
He highlights the assembly's acceptance of the safety oversight programme, first proposed fewer than two years ago. "No-one questioned the budget," he says. The three-year programme of safety audits in all 185 ICAO member states will cost $5 million. "This is proof that safety is in the mind of all states. They are very keen to implement ICAO's programme, to find out who fails and what remedies ICAO can provide," he says.
Kotaite emphasises that a key element of the safety oversight programme is to provide the technical assistance required to eliminate shortcomings. The mandatory programme allows the organisation to publish the results of a safety audit after six months, effectively giving it an enforcement mechanism. But the assembly urged all states to use the results "for safety-related purposes only".
Kotaite acknowledges that "-some will ask: 'Is this punitive?'" He continues: "I do not like sanctions; boycotting a country will not make its airspace safe. If there are deficiencies in the airspace or on the ground, we will not get the result required if we are negative. We must exert pressure and provide help."
The "real force" of ICAO, he says, is its long-running technical co-operation programme, which exists to provide states with the assistance required to overcome safety problems. Funding for the programme comes from regional development banks and other sources, including manufacturers. "It is in the interests of everybody to contribute," he says.
"States do not lack the political will [to follow international safety oversight standards]," he believes. "They are either not well informed, or lack funds, or lack national legislation" - three factors which have emerged from ICAO's existing programme of voluntary safety audits, he says.
Some 85 member states have requested safety audits under the voluntary programme, of which 70 have been performed. These have resulted in 30 follow-ups, Kotaite says, in which plans for remedial action have been established, reviewed and approved.
"The voluntary programme has been very successful," he says. The move to make the audits mandatory and increase disclosure of the results was initiated by the organisation itself.
The safety oversight programme is a major plank of ICAO's Global Aviation Safety Plan, developed in 1997 to concentrate the organisation's safety-related activities on initiatives that promise to decrease significantly the worldwide accident rate. This plan, which was also endorsed by the assembly, includes a programme to prevent accidents involving controlled flight into terrain, principally through improved education and training.
If reducing the accident rate is a major goal for ICAO as it moves into the next century, then increasing airspace system capacity safely and reducing the environmental impact of civil aviation are equal challenges.
Kotaite believes that ICAO's worldwide CNS/ATM systems implementation conference in May in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was successful in raising awareness of the issues, particularly with financing - but much work remains. The assembly called on states to follow up the recommendations of the conference, and urged ICAO to speed up the development of the standards and other instruments needed for transition to satellite-based air navigation.
"If air transport is to grow, what alternative do we have?" Kotaite asks. "Can we get to the mid-21st century, and 4-5 billion passengers, relying on ground-based systems? We cannot."
The Rio conference examined a range of financing options for the implementation of CNS/ATM systems. In its final declaration, the conference expressed its belief that the operation of air navigation services by autonomous entities would "-facilitate the raising of loans to finance the procurement and implementation of CNS/ ATM systems components".
It is now ICAO policy, Kotaite says, to encourage states to "-change the status of civil aviation to make it autonomous, so that the income it generates remains with civil aviation and can be used to improve safety".
One of the biggest issues standing in the way of CNS/ATM implementation is states' concerns over the ownership, and therefore availability, of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) around which the concept is built.
The two existing GNSS service providers, the USA and Russia, have voluntarily made their systems available to civil users, but have been unable to sign legally binding agreements assuring continued availability. To avoid delaying CNS/ATM implementation while a long term legal framework is hammered out, the assembly adopted an interim charter on the "rights and obligations of states" relating to GNSS.
"The service providers could not provide assurances on liability at Rio, so on an interim basis, we drafted the charter, which has been accepted by the assembly," Kotaite says. The organisation was also instructed to begin work on a long- term framework to govern the operation of the GNSS, "including consideration of an international convention", and to present proposals in time for the 33rd ICAO Assembly, scheduled for 2001.
Kotaite acknowledges that it "-may take time" to agree a long term framework governing GNSS operation, "-because it involves governments". But the charter, which recognises that air safety is paramount and that all states shall have non-discriminatory access to GNSS services, provides a short-term basis on which to proceed. "CNS/ATM implementation should not be delayed or stopped while we wait for the long-term legal framework," he says.
The creation of a group to study the legal aspects of CNS/ATM was authorised by the ICAO Council in June, but the appointment of members has awaited the "green light" from the assembly. "It will be established before the end of the year," Kotaite says.
The study group will have to reconcile differing views on how GNSS operation should be governed. The predominant view at the Rio conference was that an international convention is necessary to provide guarantees of universal GNSS accessibility and continuity, but several delegations argued that the legal framework already exists - in the form of the Chicago Convention.
Differences will have to be reconciled, also, in ICAO's work to reduce the environmental impact of civil aviation. The assembly underlined the organisation's role as the international forum for the establishment of noise and emission standards, but requested that ICAO expedite work on more stringent standards to meet the demands of certain regions.
Importantly, Kotaite says, the assembly welcomed the organisation's decision to look at noise standards more stringent than the current Chapter 3 limits. The ICAO Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) has been charged with presenting proposals by the next assembly, in 2001. This is aimed at heading off moves by some European countries to impose lower noise limits.
"The environment is a permanent policy issue at ICAO," admits Kotaite. "Some regions are much more sensitive than others. The Nordic states, for example, would like more stringent standards immediately. Others would like a more balanced policy.
"The assembly advocated that it is not in the interest of anybody to deal with this on a regional basis. It is a global issue, and it is for ICAO to establish the standards," he says. "The assembly did ask ICAO to speed up its work, and no doubt it should be speeded up."
In an effort to meet the demands for immediate action from some states, the CAEP will report on more stringent noise standards within three years. "We hope that they will wait," he says, referring to ICAO's efforts to avoid a proliferation of regional noise limits.
Encouraged by the assembly, Kotaite says, the ICAO Council is likely to accept later this year a new emissions standard recommended by the CAEP. This calls for a 16% average reduction in the levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx) that aircraft engines are allowed to emit.
More importantly, for the long term, the assembly underlined that ICAO is the "global instrument" for limitation or reduction of "greenhouse gas" emissions from international aviation, as recognised by the so-called "Kyoto Protocol" to the United Nations convention on climate change.
High-altitude emissions of greenhouse gases by civil aviation are likely to prove a contentious issue over the coming years, and one that will probably test ICAO's ability to achieve a consensus while meeting demands that it work more quickly. In particular, there is the issue of allocating emissions from international aviation to states' national inventories.
"It is clear that ICAO should move ahead," says Kotaite. "The Kyoto climate change convention," says ICAO,"is the forum [for action on emissions of greenhouse gases from international aviation]-so we have a new responsibility for the environment."
ICAO processes are speeding up, Kotaite says. The organisation's Air Navigation Committee, for example, has launched a programme to accelerate the production of the standards needed for CNS/ ATM implementation. The consultative process for the creation of standards will not change, he says, but can be made more efficient with new technology.
"Consultation creates the standards," which are the basic work of ICAO, Kotaite says, pointing out that no standards have been disapproved in the organisation's 44-year life. The process takes takes time, "-but, without the procedure, we cannot be sure [the standards] will be approved. If we improvise, states may disagree. We must keep the integrity of our technical work," he emphasises.
The 32nd Assembly, by endorsing key initiatives for improving air safety, increasing airspace capacity, protecting the environment, modernising the Warsaw system on air carrier liability and improving the organisation's efficiency, set ICAO created in 1954 by the Chicago Convention, on the correct course for the new century, Kotaite believes, .
"The Chicago Convention, drafted during war for use in peace, has served civil aviation well in the 20th century - and will continue to serve in the 21st century. It will continue to be the basis for the development of air transport," Kotaite believes.
Source: Flight International
