On March 31, ICAO Asia-Pacific Regional Office held a video-conference among civil aviation directors-general of the region, during which ICAO and civil aviation authorities shared their experience and practices dealing with COVID-19, and exchanged views on current challenges and next-step priorities. The conference was attended by representatives from over 20 civil aviation authorities of China, Australia, India, Malaysia, Korea, Singapore and the Units States, and ICAO headquarter, IATA and EASA.

ICAO introduced its international standards and recommended practices related to public health emergency of international concern, reported on measures taken and work progress in coordinating member states to actively respond to COVID-19, and expressed it will continue to enhance coordination and cooperation with all parties and timely push more information as it could. CAAC shared its effective practices of insisting on safety-first during epidemic, timely publishing financial-support and burden-alleviating policies to help airlines and sharing epidemic prevention and control measures with countries and international organizations; it also highlighted CAAC’s experience in continuously updating guiding materials including the Preventing Spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Guidelines for Airlines and Airports and the Technical Instructions on Disease Prevention and Control for Civil Aviation Security Personnel, called upon countries to adopt equivalent prevention and control measures and raised advice on strengthening coordination on epidemic response, information release and notification, flow of anti-epidemic materials and stabilizing of international cargo supply chain. FAA, EASA and civil aviation authorities from Australia, Singapore and Korea also shared their corresponding measures against COVID-19, exchanged views on current challenges, epidemic spread forecast, impact on civil aviation recovery and next-step directions. Pakistan thanked China for support in their epidemic response, and Mongolia highly appreciated CAAC for timely sharing of experience, and expressed that they have already delivered China’s technical instructions to their domestic airlines.

At last, participants agreed on the positive coordinating role played by ICAO Asia-Pacific Regional Office, and appreciated its efforts in providing information-change platform for CAAs in this region to discuss problems and solutions during the epidemic. The conference concluded that the spread of the epidemic won’t stop in short term, while ICAO will continue to organize working-level video-conferences, update international standards and best practices, facilitate joint response to the epidemic among CAAs within this region, and help air transport in Asia-Pacific to bounce back and realize steady growth.