Rabat - ACAO´s Air Navigation Committee held its forty-second meeting on 18 and 19 May 2020, via teleconference using "Zoom" facility in the presence of 22 participants from 11 member countries representing the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the People´s Democratic Republic of Algeria, the Kingdom Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Somalia, the Republic of Iraq, the State of Kuwait, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the State of Libya, the Kingdom of Morocco, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and the Republic of Yemen.
The meeting was opened by His Excellency Eng. Abdenbi Manar, Director General of the Arab Civil Aviation Organization. The latter welcomed the members of the Committee, stressing the importance of the meeting in the context of developing the technical work in the field of air navigation for the organization, which represents the Air Navigation Committee as one of its main arms. He also reminded the audience that the air transport industry, which is considered one of the basic economic sectors, is one of the most affected realms by this unprecedented crisis due to the spread of the Corona virus pandemic, taking into account the fact that this crisis is expected to lead to huge losses in terms of permanent and seasonal jobs whose livelihood is dependent on the tourism and travel sector, in the Arab world.
In his opening speech, the Director General emphasized that consideration should be given to a series of practical measures and plans that would support the return of this sector to fulfill its natural role in terms of sustainable development and stimulate the rapid growth of other economic sectors.
His Excellency also suggested the establishment of a task group that would meet via teleconference using modern technologies (similar to Zoom facility) with the aim to follow all developments related to the Corona pandemic and provide the committee with targeted guidance documentation to standardize the procedures and accelerate the recovery of the air navigation activity to resume back to normal levels prior to the crisis.
His Excellency also indicated that the first version of the plan for the revitalization of the civil aviation sector for 2020 established by the European Air Navigation Agency (Eurocontrol) was issued. It aims to assist airlines, air navigation services and airports in, advance planning, resumption of European aviation and provide the main actors in the field of aviation with the global vision they need for effective planning.
His Excellency also pointed out the importance of reviewing the committee´s program for the next two years 2021-2022 as this activity has an impact on the organization´s budget and is expected to be considered during the organization´s executive board meeting in June 2020. He also stressed the necessity of introducing new topics related to air navigation, especially those related to the Corona pandemic, in order to support countries to get out of this crisis and mitigate its effects wishing the participants every success in their work.
For his part, the Chairman of the Air Navigation Commission and the representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mr. Ibrahim Bonyan Al-Jabri, welcomed the members of the committee, underlining the importance of the meeting. He also recalled the topics on the agenda and thanked the organization and the general manager for the efforts made, especially those supporting the recovery of the air transport activity in the region following the spread of Corona Virus (COVID-19). He praised the proposals of the Director General, and in particular, the establishment of a solid task group for the committee to keep abreast of the latest developments related to the Corona pandemic and work towards the standardization of air navigation procedures. He also reminded the participants of the main objective of this meeting, i.e. to review the new procedures related to the Corona pandemic and define the programs of the Organization in the field of air navigation for the next period 2021-2022.
The meeting addressed several topics of interest in the field of air navigation in the Arab region, the foremost related to the follow up of the latest developments, measures and procedures undertaken in connection to the outbreak of the Corona pandemic COVID-19 and a return of civil aviation to normal operations, the air traffic flow management project in the Middle East region as well as the expansion of Satellite Coverage to Air Navigation and Arab Civil Aviation Organization´s programs in the field of air navigation for the years 2021-2022.