International Civil Aviation Day

December 7 is International Civil Aviation Day, which was established in 1996 by the United Nations with the aim of focusing attention on updates and standards, particularly on flight safety around the world.

A fan-made logo for the international day.

Why an international day?

The purpose of this international day is to bring to world society a greater awareness of the importance of international civil aviation. The importance stems primarily from the fact that aviation plays the fundamental role of linking states and societies, thus supporting any form of social and economic development. In particular, ICAO has the fundamental role of helping each nation cooperate with others to achieve a homogeneous rapid transit network to serve its citizens.

International Civil Aviation Organization

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is an autonomous body of the United Nations founded in March 1947 with the principal objectives of developing international aviation techniques, promoting technological development in the service of transportation, and increasing the safety and efficiency of the system.

In the 1944 Chicago Convention, 193 national governments signed on to help form this organization. These same governments are now the directors and funders supporting the agency. The main function given to the body is to maintain an administrative and expert bureaucracy, through the Secretary, in support of international diplomatic relations, while also seeking to innovate the legislative system of air transportation by standardizing regulations internationally. International alignment takes place precisely through ICAO, which, when consensus is reached on a new issue, sets it as a standard and compels all 193 member countries to adopt it. The operation has proven to be very efficient because it is now possible to set national regulations homogeneously, making aviation safe and organized, only within what has been agreed upon with other international governments.

Finally, ICAO's activities include international outreach, advocacy for coalitions and the organization of specific training in development to help governments implement what has been established at the legislative level. Some technical innovations, noteworthy as they are known in all circles internationally, are the development of the NATO Phonetic Alphabet and the ICAO Airport Code. These are two foundational elements for the day-to-day efficiency of international institutions, and we have ICAO to thank for them.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

The priorities set by the International Organization are: Aviation safety, efficiency and facilitation, economic development and environmental protection. On the subject of globally established programs we can note: procurement, cooperative techniques, training of next generation professionals, aviation training, and lately the COVID-19 safety program. The key initiatives the agency focuses on are definitely innovation, humanitarian assistance, environmental efforts, and gender equality.

These programs were launched in conjunction with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. A very important focus was precisely on the importance of global sustainable development and the importance of aviation as a global connecting element. International aviation is increasingly seen as a key contributor to world peace and prosperity. The goals on which the agency mainly focuses are 15 out of 17 from the Sustainable Development Goals; these are carried out by the different departments in collaboration with other UN institutions.

Special theme

In order to mark the international day, and coinciding with ICAO's anniversaries, the council decided to establish specific themes so as to promote specific activities to address the most relevant issues of the period. The theme chosen for the years 2019-2023 is “Promoting Innovation for the Development of Global Aviation.” For this reason, a number of events have been organized in recent years in promotion of technical insight on aviation. Some examples in recent years have been councils, fairs, webinars, assemblies and exhibitions.

I. Piacentini