Seminar

 

The world's aviation community was invited to a two-day Seminar preceding the Worldwide Air Transport Conference (ATConf/5, 24 to 29 March 2003) that was convened by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The Seminar promoted open dialogue on the strategic issues facing today's air transport industry and its regulators, in an informal and interactive setting.

In particular, participants had an opportunity to express and debate a wide range of views on the evolution of liberalization in air transport. Prominent speakers from industry, government and academia discussed such topics as:

• liberalization experiences (national, regional, multilateral and plurilateral)
• air carrier ownership and control
• the sustainability of air carriers and various safeguards
• physical and environmental constraints (including airport capacity and aircraft noise)
• air transport and the global trade mechanism
• liberalization's effects on the airline industry (including restructuring and alliances)
• consumer protection and passenger rights
• liberalization and its social impact (such as on labour and management policy)
• the impact of technology (such as aircraft, e-commerce, distribution through computer reservation systems and the Internet) on the liberalization process
• future approaches to regulatory reform

The programme, sponsors of functions and a publication issued in conjunction with the Seminar may be found following the relevant links.

The Seminar was organized by ICAO, in association with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Airports Council International (ACI), McGill University's Institute of Air and Space Law, and Concordia University's International Centre for Aviation Management Education and Research (ICAMER). This Seminar was of particular interest to air transport policy-makers, airlines, airports, air navigation service providers, manufacturers, legal and academic institutions, consumer and labour groups, international and regional organizations.