At the 2016 Air Traffic Control Global Conference taking place in Beijing today, ICAO’s Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu encouraged Air Traffic Management (ATM) stakeholders to work more closely with ICAO and each other to ensure States are aware of the critical need to invest in infrastructure to accommodate and benefit from the forecasted massive growth in traffic volumes. She underlined that “barely 3% of annual global infrastructure investment is earmarked for aviation development. With the rate of growth now being seen in many air transport markets, the urgency of this point cannot be over-estimated.”
Dr. Liu believes that Air Traffic Service Providers can play a key role in addressing this situation by sharing their wealth of collective expertise, ensuring regional and global cooperation, and by participating in global traffic planning, in particular through ICAO’s Global Air Navigation Plan. “By leveraging available global indicators, and by continuing to share information and best practices, we can help States calculate their specific needs according to airspace user expectations. This then permits them to identify optimal solutions, refine resource allocation projections, and maximize the benefits they realize,” she said.
ICAO is supporting cooperation and development amongst service providers through a variety of initiatives, such as the deployment of “System Wide Information Management” (SWIM) technology the implementation of Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) and Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM). This will play a key role in ensuring the harmonization and interoperability of the global air traffic management system, and the continued implementation of its “No Country Left Behind” initiative, which aims to ensure that all countries have an opportunity to improve their compliance with ICAO standards, including standards related to effective regulatory oversight.
