The leadership of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) will ask the agency’s 191 member states to endorse a new Global Aviation Security Plan when representatives gather this week in Montreal. The move follows a United Nations Security Council resolution last week on aviation security.

The first-ever aviation security plan and a global market-based measure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are among items ICAO will take up at its 39^th general assembly from September 27 to October 7. In the security realm, the UN agency said it is also “putting tremendous effort” into technical assistance efforts to help states prevent threats through its “No Country Left Behind” initiative. 

“Under ICAO’s new Global Aviation Security Plan, states, regions, industry and other stakeholders will be unified through a strategic framework that offers clarity on priorities for aviation security enhancement,” said Fang Liu, ICAO secretary general.

On September 22, Liu addressed the UN Security Council ministerial session in New York City. She cited the March 22 terrorist bombing at Brussels Airport and the June 28 bombing and shooting at Atatürk Airport in Istanbul as evidence of the “enormous challenges faced in securing public areas, the inseparability of aviation security and national security, and the economic and social consequences of terrorism.” That day, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on countering terrorist threats to aviation (Resolution 2309) that calls upon nations to strengthen their aviation security measures, working within ICAO.

Liu identified improvised explosive devices concealed in baggage and cargo, shoulder-launched missiles known as Man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), drones, cybersecurity and insider threats as priority security challenges. These threats can be reduced by implementing ICAO Security Standards, but adopting the standards requires “complex coordination” of national and multi-lateral bodies, she noted.