Aviation Assignment: Annexes & Governance of Chicago Convention
Question
Task: Write a detailed aviation assignment describing how the ‘Chicago’ Convention (including the creation ofICAO) from a technical / safety perspective and the IATA from a commercial perspective influence the air transport industry?
Answer
Executive Summary
The report on aviation assignment discusses the Chicago Convention and the history related to it. The implementation of the regulations mentioned in the articles of the Chicago Convention has also been discussed. The parts, annexes and articles of the Chicago Convention have been discussed in detail in this report. The background of the formation of the ICAO has been discussed along with its current position and constituents. The report also focuses on the critical elements of the ICAO and its importance in the implementation of the rules and regulations in the aviation service. The focus of this report has been on the above-mentioned topics considering the differences between the IATA and the ICAO.?
Introduction
Chicago Convention is also known as the Convention on International Civil Aviation. The International Civil Aviation Organization which is a group of the UN specialized in international air travel coordination was formed by the Chicago Convention (Abeyratne, 2014).The rules and regulations of aircraft registration, airspace, security, safety, and sustainability were established by the convention and the details of the rights of the involvedparticipants related to air travelling were provided. The purpose of the Chicago Convention was the development of the methods and principles of global air navigation and to pave the way for developinginternational air transportation and its planning. This assignment discusses the brief history of the Chicago Convention along with its annexes and the governance related to it.
Discussion
Chicago Convention- A brief history
The document for the Chicago Convention was signed on December 7, 1994. The initial number of signatories in the convention was 52 states. The requisite 26th ratification was received by the convention on 5th of March, 1947 and it was put into effect from 4th April, 1947. On the same day, the International Civil Aviation Organization came into existence. The International Civil Aviation Organization became a dedicatedgroup of the Economic Social Council of the United Nations. on the month of October 1947. The Chicago Convention has been modified eight times since its formation in the years 1959, 1963, 1969, 1975, 1980, 1997, 2000 and 2006. The Chicago Convention includes a number of 193 states, as suggested by reports for March 2019 (Sehgal, 2020). Part 1 of the Chicago Convention discusses the rules and regulations regarding the general principles of the appliance of the convention. The articles under part 1, chapter 1 include topics like sovereignty, territory, civil and state aircraft, misuse of civil aviation, cabotage, pilotless aircraft and many more. Part 2 of the Chicago Convention includes the discussion of the topics like the name and composition of the international civil aviation organization, the objectives of the organization, the permanent seat of the signatories included in the convention, the first assembly meeting, the legal capacity of the organization and may more. Article 37 of the convention discusses International procedures and standards adoption. Each state under the collaboration of the Chicago Convention should undertake the responsibilities to secure the highest functional degree of standards, regulations uniformity, procedures, personnel, auxiliary services and organizations related to aircraft in which the air navigation will be improved by the uniformity (Gordon, 2021). Article 38 of the convention discusses the procedures and methods the signatory states should follow if they fail to comply with the rules and regulations of the convention which were discussed in article 37.
Annexes to the Chicago Convention
There are a total of 19 annexes to the Chicago Convention. Some of the annexes are discussed below:
- Annexe 1- Individual Licensing: Annexure 1 f the Chicago Convention deals with the rules and regulations involved with the personal licensing of the pilots.
- Annexe 2- Regulations of the Air: Annexure 2 of the convention deals with the rules of the air which are internationally agreed to ensure the safety of the passengers.
- Annexe 3- Meteorological facilities: Under this annexure, the rules related to the required information of the pilots of the meteorological conditions of the destination aerodromes of the pilots are covered.
- Annexe 4- Aeronautical graphs: The air transportations follow routes and maps that are different from the other kinds of transportation. The rules and regulations and the charts relate to air transportation are provided under this annexure.
The SARPs are the Standards and Recommendation Practices that come under the convention. The SARPs are mainly included in Annex 19 of the convention which states the rules and regulations of safety management of air transportation. Annexe 19 under the SARP includes phase 1 and phase 2 (Agustini et al., 2021).
Governance of ICAO
The assembly of the ICAO constitutes all the Member States of the ICAO. The assembly meets once in a span of three years and the Council of ICA convenes the time and place of the assembly according to the convenience of the Member States. The duties of the assembly include a range of works like electing the Member State that would represent on the Council of the ICAO, examining the reports and taking appropriate actions on the basis of the evaluation of the reports that are submitted to the Council and others (Dershowitz& Gresik, 2021).
The Secretary-General leads the Secretariat of the ICAO. The Secretariat is formed of five bureaus, which are, , the Bureau of Air Transport, the Bureau of Air Navigation,, the Bureau of Legal Affairs and external relations,the Bureau of Technical co-operation and the Administration and Services Bureau.
One of the ICAO's core aspects is the establishment and maintenance of the Standards and Recommendations Practices. The standards are developed accordingly by the ICAO. The ICAO follows transparent, structured and multi-staged procedures for the development of the Standards and Recommendations. A range of technical and nontechnical bodies are associated with the development of the standards, those bodies either are a part of the ICAO or are closely related to the ICAO (Ghannoum, 2020).
State safety oversight guidelines of ICAO
Global aviation security is built upon the aviation security oversight of individual States. Global civil aviation operations can be impacted by the lack of proper security oversight of a single Member State. It is ensured by the aviation security oversight that the security levels provided by the national aviation industry is equal to or better than the levels defined by Standard and Recommended Practices (Defalque, 2017).
There are eight critical elements of the individual security oversight of the Member States,some of them are discussed beneath:
Critical element 1: Legislation of aviation security
An effective and understandable framework is developed under this element which is related to the civil aviation operation of the State. This element also considers to establish and implement the standards of Annex 17 and the standards which are security-related mentioned in other annexes. The State's requirement of aviation security is also implemented under this element.
Critical element 2: Regulations and programmes of aviation security
The national requirements that are emanated from the legislation of aviation security are addressed and are provided with adequate regulations and programmes of the national level. The equipment and infrastructure mentioned in Annex 17 are considered and the procedures of implementation of the standards are mentioned in this element.
Critical element 3: The responsibilities of State Appropriate jurisdiction
The proper authority for national security is designated in this element for the subject of aviation security. Various technical and non-technical personnel are involved in this procedure (Rose, 2021).
The other critical elements include training and qualification of personnel, technical tool guidance provisions and information of security, obligations related to approval and certification, obligations related to quality control and security concerns resolutions.
The Safety Responsibilities of Operators
The responsibility for safely conducting the operations and complying with the laws and regulations promulgated by the State is with the Operator. Provisions in the Annexes are determined by the laws and regulations which are also implemented by the states.
However, these laws and regulations are not sufficient for the Operator in carrying out his operations. The operator is vested with the responsibility of developing the instructions which are required for ensuring the safety and efficiency of an operator. The Operator must see that the operating instructions laid down by him are not in conflict with the laws and regulations of the home State as well other States in which the operation is to be carried. For drafting these operating instructions, the principal document the Operator is required to see is the Operations manual.
The Operating instructions need to be approved by the State of the Operator. The approval of the instructions requires the following elements are to be strictly included:
Identifying safety hazards: The Operator is first required to study the probable safety hazards that exist. He is supposed to carefully check and analyze the hazards, and mention them in the operating instructions. It is the responsibility of the Operator to double-check and leaves no space for any neglect. The Operator is required to minimize the hazards in compliance with the laws and regulations of the State (Civil Aviation Safety Authority, 2019).
Remedial actions for maintaining an acceptable level of safety: After having identified the safety hazards, the Operator is required to lay down the remedies to be used to maintain the acceptable level of safety. It is the responsibility of the Operator to develop all possible remedial actions to meet the safety standards. The laws of any State require the Operator to be vigilant and ensure that the safety of any person is not compromised.
Continuous monitoring and assessment of safety level achieved regularly: It is not enough to identify the safety hazards and build remedial actions for them, regular surveillance is required to monitor these safety hazards. A regular assessment of the safety levels must be ensured daily, to leave no scope for the failure of any sort. All the concerned staffs need to be trained thoroughly before taking up the job (Safety and Health Monitoring, 2015). The Operating instructions must clearly and specifically mention the duties of each staff which later on he or she cannot deny in case of any dispute.
Continuous improvement of safety level: In the process of implementing the above-mentioned elements, the Operator has to continuously analyze the reports and see the possible rooms for improvement. The Operator has the responsibility to inculcate any modern technology that could be utilized in lowering the risks concerned with the safety hazards. He needs to ensure that modern-day standards of safety in compliance with the laws of the State are met and harmony is maintained between the laws and implementation of the Operating instructions. Along with that, the improvements will allow the operator to minimize the occurrence of errors and accidents in the future while executing the work.
Commercial Imperative
Commercial imperative is the actual reality of every transaction and the contract that bind the relationship between the client and the lawyer of the client. This also flows down in the IATA because this is a program that has been designed to evaluate the operational management and the control system of an airline. The commercial imperative can be compared with the biasness that maximizes the audit report. The IATA allows the company to meet the industrial needs of the company at the time of crisis and uncertainty. Along with that, the IATA is also linked with the IOSA that provides support to the operators at the time of renewing the registered audit and this will allow the operator to overcome the limitation (IATA, 2021). The IATA is required for the flow of competitive imperative because transports are one of the most essential enablers of the economic activities that have the power to drive competitiveness in the market. Competitions in the airlines are unhinged till the date that creates widespread commercial imperative as the airlines are expected to deliver significant benefits to their consumers.
Furthermore, the IATA has significant power to regulate the formal economy in the airline market and the market power is also determined by IATA. This ensures that the policymakers in the market do not rely on the market competition for designing and implementing the policies (Wiltshire, 2017). This is because the airline network provides essential connections for passengers and merchants along with important infrastructure. IATA allows the airlines to deal with the challenges that are created with the market competition and also respond to the challenge of low profitability efficiently. Therefore, in this manner, IATA shapes the standardization and connectivity in the airlines and their commercial activities.
Conclusion
The above-discussed topics involve the elaborate discussion of the Chicago convention and it can be concluded that the Chicago convention and the formation of OCAO have immensely contributed to the improvement of aviation security. The annexes, governance and the responsibilities of the ICAO have significantly assisted in the formation of the rules and regulations of international aviation and the IATA has contributed to form the regulations for the private aviation services, which altogether has effectively improved the overall system.
References
Abeyratne, R. (2014). Convention on International Civil Aviation.Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00068-8
Agustini, E., Kareng, Y., & Victoria, O. A. (2021).The Role of ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) in Implementing International Flight Safety Standards.KnE Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v5i1.8273
Civil Aviation Safety Authority. (2019, August 30). Registered operator responsibilities. Retrieved September 22, 2021, from Civil Aviation Safety Authority website: https://www.casa.gov.au/aircraft/civil-aircraft-register/regulations-casr-part-47/registered-operator-responsibilities
Defalque, H. (2017, October 19). Manual on the implementation of Article 83 bis of the Convention on International Civil Aviation. Www.icao.int. https://www.icao.int/ESAF/Documents/meetings/2017/LOC-I%20and%20UPRT%202017/Updated%20Documents/Doc%208335.pdf
Dershowitz, T., & Gresik, D. (2021, June 30). FDD | International Civil Aviation Organization.FDD. https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2021/06/30/international-civil-aviation-organization/
Ghannoum, S. (2020, January 16). ICAO milestones: a decade in review. Uniting Aviation. https://unitingaviation.com/news/general-interest/icao-milestones-a-decade-in-review/
Gordon, J. (2021, July 27). Chicago Convention - Explained. The Business Professor, LLC. https://thebusinessprofessor.com/en_US/global-international-law-relations/chicago-convention-definition
IATA. (2021). IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). Retrieved September 22, 2021, from www.iata.org website: https://www.iata.org/en/programs/safety/audit/iosa/
Rose, C. (2021). Appeal Relating to the Jurisdiction of the ICAO Council.American Journal of International Law, 115(2), 301–308. https://doi.org/10.1017/ajil.2021.8
Safety and Health Monitoring.(2015). Safety and Health Monitoring. Retrieved September 22, 2021, from Health and Safety Authority website: https://www.hsa.ie/eng/topics/work_safely/safety_and_health_monitoring/
Sehgal, D. R. (2020, March 18). International Civil Aviation: The Chicago Convention of 1944. IPleaders. https://blog.ipleaders.in/international-civil-aviation-chicago-convention-1944/
Wiltshire, J. (2017, November). Airport Competition: Myth or Reality? Retrieved September 22, 2021, from IATA website: https://www.iata.org/en/iata-repository/publications/economic-reports/airport-competition-myth-or-reality/