“Reconnecting the World” – IAM attends ICAO High-Level Conference on COVID-19

“Reconnecting the World” - IAM attends ICAO High-Level Conference on COVID-19

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is holding a two-week conference entitled “Reconnecting the World – High Level Conference on COVID-19”. The virtual conference started on Tuesday October 12, 2021 and runs through Friday October 22, 2021.

The IAM has been attending this event through the work that we do on the International Transportation Workers Federation (ITF) air transportation working group. Members of the working group have been participating to support a safe recovery of aviation and tourism. “Our working group has worked hard preparing for this conference. The group put together three papers on strengthening the regulations on ground handling, unruly and disruptive behavior and a crisis response program to mitigate the spread of infectious diseases. These papers were then put forward to ICAO and the committee lobbied for their acceptance” said Keith Aiken, IAM Air Transportation Coordinator.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is a specialized and funding agency of the United Nations. ICAO’s mandate is to oversee air transportation and make recommendations to ensure safe and orderly growth of the global industry. The organization makes recommendations on air navigation, safety and regulations, flight inspection, international border crossing regulations and standardized air transport accident investigations, among other things. ICAO’s world headquarters is in Montreal, Quebec.

Continued Aiken, “This conference will hopefully be used as a stepping stone for regulations on a quick but safe restart of the global air transportation industry. As Canada starts to come out of this pandemic, I am hopeful that this conference will aid in the guidance needed to safely quicken the recovery of this battered sector.”

The ITF is a global union federation of transportation workers that has 677 affiliates in 149 countries. The ITF represents 19.7 million workers in transportation.

The IAM represents the largest number of workers at Canadian airports.