The tragic incidences that occurred in the history of aviation such as the great depression in 2008, the SARS and the MERS pandemics did not affect air transport as COVID-19  did. As many airlines landed their fleet for a long time and are trying to stay still in the business.

In 29 September 2020 industry leaders attended the Air Transport Action Group’s (ATAG’s) 2020 Global Sustainable Aviation Forum today. In the remarks of ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano has mentioned how the pandemic in 2020 not only had negative affect on people’s health but also affected them economically. 

As he also emphasized that aviation and air travel is important for the citizen’s quality of life and it is great responsibility to resist the threats of the ongoing pandemic. He added “that the viability of the operators must be secure as the medical conditions is stilled”. “Thus, we need to work together to build up the recovery of improving international alignment” he continued.

The opportunity behind this crisis must be recognized to build a greener and more sustainable commercial aviation in term of all divisions. This will require a strong commitment and heavy reliance on the innovations going forward from the leaders to achieve higher degree of sustainability, Mr. Sciacchitano said. He drew attention on ICAO’s focus on innovating in Organization wide and not in green aviation innovations.   

Mr. Sciacchitano added  “These latest events is encouraging leaders and others to exchange ideas and the perspectives from ATAG would be appreciated by ICAO’s global audience”. As he noted the importance of the concerns of the UN Sustainable Development Goals on the connections between the aviation and the tourism, the environment ,and societies are complex and not only a subject of carbon emissions 

In conclusion “All of us must recognize today that this is a time not only for strong leadership and commitment, but also deeper collaboration and progress founded in the solidarity called for in the Council’s CART Report,” he said.