Plenary Session of the European Civil Aviation Conference

The Directors General of the 44 ECAC Member States came together with high level representatives from a wide range of ICAO Member States and international organisations, including ICAO itself, IATA, ACI/Europe and AEA, to name only a few, in order to debate current issues in international civil aviation and establish the ECAC work programme and budget for the next three years.

The Plenary Session heard addresses by the President of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation Roberto Kobeh Gonzales, as well as by the Head of the Cabinet of the Vice President of the European Commission Henrik Hololei, and by the CEO and Director General of IATA, Tony Tyler.

The first day of the Plenary was devoted to strategic discussions focussed on what should be the ambitions of the European States for next years 38^th Session of the ICAO Assembly in Montreal. The economics of aviation, aviation and environment, aviation security, and aviation safety and air traffic management were each debated, in panel sessions whose members included senior figures in European aviation and beyond. At the conclusion of these discussions, reflections upon them and a perspective on the 2013 ICAO Assembly were offered by Mr Raymond Benjamin, Secretary General of ICAO.

In the course of the Plenary, ECAC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IATA on cooperation in aviation safety and security matters, and a joint work programme for 2013-15 with the Arab Civil Aviation Commission.

The meeting took certain formal decisions in relation to ECACs principal officer appointments, work programme and budget for the next three years. It re-elected Catalin Radu (Director General of Civil Aviation for Romania) as ECAC President, and appointed Bilal Eksi, Patrick Gandil and Jonathan Moor (Directors General of Civil Aviation for Turkey, France and the United Kingdom, respectively) as ECAC Vice-Presidents. The full membership of ECACs executive Coordinating Committee is show below.

At the close of the meeting, Catalin Radu thanked its 170 participants for their contributions to what had proved to be fascinating, sometimes challenging, discussions, on which all would wish to reflect as ideas now began to be pulled together for specific proposals and positions to be taken to the next ICAO Assembly.

The moderators, panellist and presenters who contributed during the 33^rd Session included:

Patrick Gandil (Director General of Civil Aviation for France), Marjeta Jager (Policy Co-ordination and Security in DG MOVE at the European Commission), Paul Gretch, (Director of the Office of International Aviation in the United States Department of Transportation), Günther Matschnigg (Senior Vice President for Safety, Operations and Infrastructure, IATA), Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi (Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of the United Arab Emirates), Matthew Baldwin (Director for Air Aviation and International Transport Policy in DG MOVE at the European Commission), Mike Ambrose (Director General of the European Regional Airlines Association), Ong Heng Yap (Director-General of the Singapore Civil Aviation Authority), David McMillan (Director General, EUROCONTROL), Boubacar Djibo (Director of ICAOs Air Transport Bureau), Patrick Goudou (Executive Director, EASA), Alexander Neradko (Director of the Federal Air Transport Agency of the Russian Federation), Gerold Reichle (Director General of Civil Aviation for Germany), Frank Durinckx (Director General of Civil Aviation for Belgium) and Jonathan Moor (Director General of Civil Aviation for the United Kingdom).

Those appointed by the Session to be members of the ECAC Coordinating Committee were:


President

• Mr Catalin Radu, Director General of Civil Aviation, Romania

Vice Presidents

• Mr Patrick Gandil, Director General of Civil Aviation, France
• Mr Jonathan Moor, Director General of Civil Aviation, United Kingdom
• Mr Bilal Eksi, Director General of Civil Aviation, Turkey

Other Members

• Mrs Ellen Bien, Director General of Civil Aviation, Netherlands
• Mrs Ingrid Cherfils, Director General of Civil Aviation, Sweden
• Mr Frank Durinckx, Director General of Civil Aviation, Belgium
• Mr Anatolii Kolisnyk, Director General of Civil Aviation, Ukraine
• Mr Peter Müller, Director General of Civil Aviation, Switzerland
• Mr Alessio Quaranta, Director General of Civil Aviation, Italy
• Mr Gerold Reichle, Director General of Civil Aviation, Germany