Friday Nov 15, 2024
Friday Nov 15, 2024
Monday, 8 December 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
viation Day. It marked the date of emergence of the Convention on International Civil Aviation with 52 States’ signatories on 7 December 1944 at the end of a well-attended international conference held in Chicago, USA. The Convention on International Civil Aviation which is popularly referred to as the ‘Chicago Convention’ laid the foundation for the establishment of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) which later became an agency of the United Nations (established in 1945) specialised in the field of civil aviation.
On 7 December 2014 when ICAO celebrated its 70th birthday, a total of 191 States in the world have become its Member States by subscribing to the Convention.
ICAO is governed by a Council comprised of 36 States elected amongst its Member States through a ballot conducted at its Assembly which is held every three years at the ICAO headquarters located in Montreal, Canada. The Council is headed by the President who is the Chief of the ICAO. In order to facilitate smooth functioning and effective coordination with Member States, ICAO has established Seven (07) Regional Offices.
In order to help accomplish its mission, ICAO has established a few Commissions on different subjects with Member States serving in the Council. The workhorse of the ICAO is the Secretariat which is administered by the Secretary General with the assistance of Directors, Regional Directors and over 800 of employees.
The aims and objectives of the ICAO as set out under Article 44 of the Chicago Convention are to develop the principles and techniques of international air navigation and to foster the planning and development of international air transport so as to:
Insure the safe and orderly growth of international civil aviation throughout the world;
Encourage the arts of aircraft design and operation for peaceful purpose;
Encourage the development of airways, airports, and air navigation facilities for international civil aviation;
Meet the needs of the peoples of the world for safe, regular, efficient and economical air transport;
Prevent economic waste caused by unreasonable competition;
Insure that the rights of contracting States are fully respected and that every contracting State has a fair opportunity to operate international airlines;
Avoid discrimination between contracting States;
Promote safety of flight in international air navigation;
Promote generally the development of all aspects of international civil aeronautics.
Human beings realised the vast potentials of aviation with the first powered, controlled and sustained flight operated by Write Brothers on 17 December 1903 in North Carolina, USA. Commercial Aviation in the world commenced on 1 January 1914 with a one fare paying passenger onboard thus commemorates the centenary in commercial aviation in this year.
Over the past 70 years, the Air Transport has become the safest, expeditious, efficient, regular, economical and environmentally friendly mode of transport amongst other modes of transport in the world and ICAO played a very prominent and vital role for the achievement of this significant status.
There are currently over 10,000 International Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) relating to civil aviation adapted by ICAO for the implementation by the Member States. Those SARPS are reflected in the 19 Annexes to the Chicago Convention and it is through these provisions, as well as ICAO’s complementary policy, guidance material, auditing and capacity-building efforts, that today’s global air transport network is able to operate close to 100,000 daily flights, safely, efficiently and securely in every region of the world.
Global industry
As per the ICAO statistics there are 26,000 commercial aircraft operated by 1,397 commercial airlines into and out 3,864 airports navigating in airspace controlled by 173 Air Navigation Service Providers. These airlines have operated nearly 33 million flight carrying 3.2 billion of passengers and 51 million tonnes of air cargo in 2013 registering an average of annual growth of 5%. Around one thousand aircraft retires annually whilst approximately one thousand three hundred new aircraft join the world’s aircraft fleet.
As per the ICAO predictions, the present demand for air travelled would be doubled by 2030. Consequently, it is estimated that the industry would require 250,000 new pilots, 400,000 new aircraft maintenance engineers and 40,000 new Air Traffic Controllers, in addition to the requirements for replacement of the retired personnel.
Economic growth and falling ticket prices expressed in real terms are the main drivers of air traffic growth. While economic growth is largely determined outside the industry, airfares reflect many factors that are determined mostly by the industry environment. Cost of air transport has come down remarkably since inception. Over the past decades, better aerospace technology has allowed airlines to increase their management efficiencies, thereby enabling them to lower their costs albeit unprecedented increase in fuel prices. The end result is that the passengers have been the greatest beneficiaries of these technical improvements.
In parallel, liberalisation of aviation markets, resulting in increased airline competition, has ensured that customers benefit from lower airline costs through lower ticket prices. A decrease in fares has encouraged people of all incomes to travel more, causing a growth in air travel demand significantly larger than what economic growth alone would have created. A more liberalised regulatory environment provides stimulus to the growth of commercial aviation, but may also put pressure on aviation infrastructure, States capabilities for safety oversight and other technical regulations, operating yields of airlines ( due to heightened competition) and environmental protection.
The profit margin has been very small for commercial airlines. Despite some consistently profitable exceptions, most airlines have performed very poorly for investors. Average operating margins of airlines remained below 4%; showing insufficient levels to cover overheads, generate a profit, or attract new capital. Intense price competition under liberalised regimes, including those from LCCs, coupled with increasing and widespread use by consumers of low fares rendered by internet search engines, have contributed to the reduced earnings.
Civil aviation in Sri Lanka
Turning towards local situation, Civil Aviation industry in Sri Lanka commenced on 25 December 1912 with the first successful flight being performed at the Colombo racecourse. Having acceded to the Chicago Convention, Sri Lanka became a Member State of the ICAO on 1 June 1948. Sri Lanka is accredited to the ICAO Asia and Pacific Regional Office located in Bangkok, Thailand.
Being a signatory to the Chicago Convention, Sri Lanka is obliged to ensure that the International Standards and Recommended Practices adopted by the ICAO are consistently implemented locally. For this purpose, the State is expected to establish an effective Safety Oversight System which would actively engage in the initial certification of every entrant (airlines, airports, training organisations, aeronautical service providers, personnel etc) to the civil aviation industry and continuous monitoring of their activities post certification aiming at safe, secure, efficient and regular operation of air transport.
ICAO started auditing the States’ performance in this respect and in 1997, ICAO found that Sri Lanka seriously lacking in the discharge of State’s obligations. Accordingly, the Government of Sri Lanka took series of measures for the rectification of the situation and the establishment of the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka in 2002 abolishing the Department of Civil Aviation is a direct consequence of such measures.
ICAO conducted three more audits on the Safety Oversight capabilities of Sri Lanka in 2000, 2004 and 2010 following the initial audit and Sri Lanka could demonstrate over 87.2% of effective implementation of the International Standards and Recommended Practices taking the first place amongst South Asian States, fourth place amongst States in the Asia and Pacific Region and 19th place amongst the entire globe.
ICAO has established five Regional Safety Groups in the globe for the promotion aviation safety through cooperation. Sri Lanka has been elected to chair the Regional Aviation Safety Group of the Asia and Pacific Region (RASG-APAC). Sri Lanka is also serving as the second chair of the Asia and Pacific Air Navigation Planning and Implementation Regional Group (APANPIRG) and the second chair of the Regional Aviation Security Forum of the Asia and Pacific Region.
Being an island, Sri Lanka has to depend heavily on Air Transport Sector in satisfying the country’s need for establishing direct transport link with the rest of the world and in this context, it is paramount that safety standards in aviation are maintained at the highest level retaining confidence that the members of public have place in air travel.
The writer is the Director General of Civil Aviation and Chief Executive Officer, Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka.
