In the aftermath of 11 September, the 33rd Session of the ICAO Assembly dealt extensively with security concerns. Security at airports — and on aircraft — was on every delegate's mind, and became the cornerstone of most discussions. Coverage of the outcome of the Assembly begins on page 5.

A report beginning on page 7 highlights the many advantages of implementing a flight operational quality assurance (FOQA) programme. British Airways has been monitoring data from flight recorders for over 40 years and currently analyses some five gigabytes of data per day.

Feature articles this month address various meteorological topics, including the importance of satellite imagery to the aviation meteorologist.

Significant changes have been taking place in the organization and operation of airports and air navigation services. These trends will be at the forefront of discussions at a worldwide ICAO conference to be held in Montreal this June.

Global air traffic management. Restructuring Hong Kong's airspace. Reducing aircraft separation minima safely.

With millions of passengers, baggage and cargo shipments being transported by the global air transport system every day, implementing effective yet unobtrusive security measures is a demanding business. Our features this month look at different aspects of that challenge, including a plan to achieve harmonized implementation of security measures in Europe.

Annual Report on Civil Aviation - ICAO's look back at major developments in civil aviation in 1999, a report that begins on page 10, includes numerous statistics that reflect industry trends.

The Journal's feature articles this month focus largely on the application of advanced technologies and include an assessment of the effort to implement new communications, navigation, surveillance and air traffic management (CNS/ATM) systems that use satellites. The pace of implementation has slowed in some respects - but as part of an incremental and migratory strategy.

The task of training in an era of fast-paced change is not an easy undertaking. Regional solutions and global cooperation will be needed to ensure that sufficient human resources are available at the right place and time to enable air transport to grow safely and efficiently. This month's issue features several articles on today's training challenges and solutions.

One of the more significant challenges facing congested international airports today is the process of managing limited capacity. A recent ICAO study looks at possible improvements to the existing system of slot allocation.

This month's edition focuses on enhancing aviation safety. As highlighted by the article beginning on page 15, one important step in bolstering safety is to assess compliance with the ICAO standards and recommended practices.

Without a direct link to the process of creating licensing standards, training programmes cannot always achieve consistent and acceptable results. As the article beginning on page 4 indicates, enhanced training standards may represent the solution.