Background:

Pre COVID-19, international civil aviation allowed for more than 100,000 daily flights transporting 12 million passengers and around USD 18 billion worth of goods. These operations translated into roughly 4.5 billion passenger movements per year, supporting 65.5 million jobs and 2.7 trillion dollars in world gross domestic product (GDP). When flight restrictions were first imposed in April 2020, international air travel collapsed almost entirely. Only two per cent of normal traffic remained, disconnecting families and businesses all over the world. Ever since the sector has witnessed it’s biggest challenge of all times. <.p>

However, sustainable aviation and transportation are essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Through its normative work, oversight and technical assistance and cooperation, ICAO serves the people of the world in facilitating international civil air transport that is safe, secure, efficient, economically viable and environmentally responsible. While there is no stand-alone SDG on sustainable transport, the sector is mainstreamed into many of the SDGs and tremendously contributes to all the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic growth, social development and green goals.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, and aiming to provide States with harmonized guidance on how to best help unify and align the numerous health and safety response and recovery approaches being implemented around the world, the ICAO Council established the Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART). Supported by the ICAO Secretariat, representatives from States, UN Organizations, international and regional organizations and aviation industry partners identified and recommended strategic priorities and policies to support Sates and aviation industry for a safe, secure and sustainable restart and recovery of the aviation sector. The Council of ICAO subsequently adopted the CART Report that aims at providing practical, aligned guidance to governments and industry operators in order to restart the international air transport sector and recover from the impacts of COVID-19 on a coordinated global basis. The “Take-off” Guidance Document that provides a framework for addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global aviation transportation system and includes a section on Public Health Risk Mitigation Measures was adopted in June 2020.

ICAO Headquarters and its Regional Offices have been actively involved in various activities to support States under their accreditation at regional and national levels, in collaboration with relevant international and regional organizations. Other activities undertaken covered aspects, including but not limited to: regular communication and coordination with States and all concerned stakeholders through virtual meetings (including Director General of Civil Aviation - DGCA meetings); webinars and regional coordination groups; facilitation to the CAPSCA programme implementation, in close cooperation with WHO; identifying and addressing States needs and operational challenges, supporting urgent needs for the global supply chain; humanitarian flights and repatriation flights in line with UN regional coordination mechanisms; coordinating exchange of information and experience between States, representing ICAO, as required, and, supporting the planning for the post COVID-19 pandemic recovery and the restart of aviation operations.

Furthermore, CART Report and Take Off guidelines are being operationalised through a Global Implementation Roadmap, which includes development of the COVID-19 “Implementation Package” (iPack). The iPacks aim at providing support to the ICAO Member States by addressing their various needs to cope with the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in regard to the movement of goods and health of passengers. This includes aspects related to public health-related measures, facilitation and aviation security, aviation safety (e.g. management of temporary regulatory alleviations), risk management, as well as air transport and economics. ICAO and its Regional Offices are supporting and following their deployment to ensure alignment with the guidance issued at regional or national level.

The ICAO Council Aviation Recovery Task Force reconvened in early 2021 to review and update its guidance for States to counter the headwinds and accelerate the momentum for aviation restart and recovery. As a “living document”, the CART guidance can only be of a transient nature. Following the emergence of virus variants, progress in vaccine rollouts and new tools for combating COVID-19, the work of CART has targeted specific issues related to testing and vaccination of passengers as part of a State’s multilayer risk management strategy. A new High-Level Cover Document of the Phase III of the ICAO Council Aviation Recovery Task Force, with a Third Edition of the “Take-off” Guidance Document, introducing additional recommendations and guidance in light of the latest developments of the COVID-19 crisis were adopted. The guidance on Public Health Corridors (PHCs) and appropriate masks for air travel was also updated. ICAO through its Regional Offices has intensified its support, coordination and harmonization efforts involving not only the aviation authorities and the industry, but also regional and national public health authorities.

Below is a brief overview of some of the actions and measures taken by ICAO as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic which help put the world back on track to achieve the SDGs by 2030, within the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development.