Improving Aviation Intelligence

Major Aviation officials from various airlines, air traffic control and airports industries met in Montreal on Tuesday at a press gathering which was hosted by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The meeting, attended by the International Air Transport Association’s,the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) & Airports Council International (ACI)  was called after the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot  over  Ukraine by a  missile in this month.

Emirates’ European rival airline, Lufthansa and other major airlines had called for an aviation  summit to address safety issues which arised from the downing of the Malaysian airliner. At Tuesday’s meeting, the organisations said they would review operations for flying over conflict zones.

In a joint statement from the meeting, the organisations said “the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is unacceptable … has raised troubling concerns with respect to civilian aircraft operating to, from and over conflict zones.”

“All the States have been reminded by ICAO of their responsibilities to address any potential risks to civil aviation in their airspace and improving aviation intelligence.”

Emirates Airlines, the Middle East’s largest airline, has already announced that it will soon be avoiding Iraqi airspace, after the shooting down of the Malaysian airliner which gave fears of a similar incident might occur over areas of Iraq controlled by militants.

ICAO has now pushed UN Member States, in coordination with the aviation industry and other UN bodies, “To ensure the right information reaches the right people at the right time.”

Attacks by Rockets

“ICAO do not have any right to force countries for sharing information. It can only try to coordinate and unify the approach to better, more consistent and transparent sharing of information for improving aviation intelligence.

Just last week, industry agencies highlighted the discrepancies in intelligence on safety threats to passenger airplanes. Israeli authorities said Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport was safe even as the United States Federal Aviation Administration told its airlines they could not fly to the airport and the European Aviation Agency strongly advised its airlines not to fly there due to rocket attacks into Israel from Gaza.