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Indonesia deserves center stage in international civil aviation
Indonesia’s election as an ICAO Council member will strengthen its position in Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific pertaining to aviation policy.
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Done deal: Indonesian Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi (right) and his Singaporean counterpart S. Iswaran hold up documents for the Jakarta-Singapore Flight Information Region (FIR) Realignment Agreement as President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (second right) and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong look on, on Jan. 25, on Bintan Island, Riau Islands. (Courtesy of/Presidential Secretariat Press Bureau)
D
uring the 2022 Changi Aviation Summit, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi was offered to have Indonesia nominated as a member of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council in the upcoming general assembly. The nomination would promote Indonesia to Category III of the council representing Southeast Asia, provided that the country passes the selection process.
The offer indicates that the ICAO recognizes Indonesia’s increasingly important role in the development of aviation in Southeast Asia. It might also coincide with the current downgrading of Malaysia’s aviation safety rating by the United States Federal Aviation Administration.
The ICAO Council is the main executive body of the world’s aviation governing body. The council consists of 36 states divided into three categories: Category I comprises member states of chief importance to air transport, Category II represents those that make the largest contribution to the provision of international civil air navigation facilities and Category III consists of those representing their geographical regions.
Among other things, the council is mandated to set out the direction of the ICAO and its assembly and establish the Air Navigation Committee, which will discuss and approve all amendments to the global air navigation plan.
Its other responsibility is to define changes to international standards and recommended practices, namely the Annexes to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, widely known as the Chicago Convention of 1944.
Aside from its executive function, the council also has the authority to adjudicate disputes in international civil aviation. Disputes are filed with the council whenever states breach aviation-related agreements or, most importantly, violate the aerial sovereignty of other states.
One dispute involved Brazil and the United States in 2016, after investigations into an aircraft collision involving a Boeing and an Embraer resulted in different conclusions due to differences in interpreting the ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices. The council later decided to encourage both states to settle their dispute through negotiations.
