The Civil Aviation Authority of Macao SAR (AACM) participated in the “46th Conference of Directors-General of Civil Aviation, Asia and Pacific Regions (DGCA)” which was held in Osaka, Japan, from 12 to 16 October 2009. The theme topic for this year was “Seamless Sky: Bringing Together the Asia/Pacific Regions”. In order to aim for the safe and orderly development of aviation in the Asia and Pacific Regions, the participating member States and Administrations as well as international organizations held a productive discussion and issued the “Kansai Statement” stating that cooperation between member States and Administrations will be enhanced for harmonization of air traffic management, aviation security and aviation safety. AACM presented 6 information papers in the Conference to report the development of the new communication/navigation/surveillance system, aviation security, air transport, regional cooperation and so on. In addition, AACM set up an exhibition booth at the Conference venue to promote Macao’s tourism and air transport for the hosting of the 47th DGCA in Macao in 2010. The five-day Conference reviewed the action items arising from the 45th Conference and discussed the papers presented by the member States and Administrations, and international organizations on six main agenda items: 1. Air Navigation Planning and Implementation, 2. Communication/Navigation/Surveillance and Air Traffic Management Implementation Activities, 3. Aviation Safety, 4. Aviation Security 5. Air Transport, and 6. Technical and Regional Cooperation. In his opening remarks, the President of the Council of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Mr. Roberto Kobeh González, said that the key to success is cooperation. He therefore urged for cooperation between all parts for a truly global air navigation system and requested member States and Administrations to render support to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in promoting harmonization of air traffic management. During the discussions, the participants recognized that as civil aviation develops and globalization progresses, harmonization in civil aviation activities is becoming critically important in order that the whole network will be secured at the agreed level and transparent and interoperable standards will be set among States and regions. In this regard, a seamless sky is therefore particularly important in the areas of air traffic management, aviation security and aviation safety. For this reason, the participants reached consensus on further cooperation and jointly issued the “Kansai Statement” with content as follows: in the aspect of air traffic management, the member States and Administrations agreed that the Asia Pacific Air Navigation Planning and Implementation Regional Group will be the starting platform to discuss and plan the future air traffic management system of the Region including targets and a time schedule; in the aspect of aviation security, the member States and Administrations agreed that taking into account the need to protect the entire cargo supply chain, further sharing of information and best practices should be promoted, and inclusion of the provisions on air cargo security into Annex 17 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention) will be considered; in the aspect of aviation safety, recognizing the importance of ensuring that air operators establish and maintain the highest standards in safety through proper implementation of Safety Management System, and the importance of safety monitoring activities of foreign aircraft in the Region, the member States and Administrations agreed to further enhance the cooperation in these efforts and activities in the Region in a harmonized manner. In addition to issuing the above joint statement, in view of the fact that there is diversity and differing stages of development and aviation infrastructure in the Asia and Pacific Regions, the participating member States and Administrations of the 46th DGCA held the “Multilateral Meeting for Enhanced Cooperation (MMEC)” to discuss how cooperation among themselves and communication with ICAO can further be enhanced. The discussions concluded that the DGCA will be the cooperation platform for such desire; that the host State or Administration will be the coordinator on a one-year term to coordinate with the other member States and Administrations, ICAO Asia and Pacific Regional Office and the Montreal Group (composed by Asia and Pacific member States and Administrations) on facilitation of technical and operational matters of mutual concern and interests relating to the Region with the aim of seeking inputs from States for ICAO Council discussions. AACM presented 6 papers in the Conference, 5 of which were information papers giving reports of the following areas:
n To enhance aviation safety, a new communication/navigation/surveillance system will be installed in the Macau International Airport. The testing of the different parts will start successively by the end of 2009; n To increase the level of security management, Macao implemented the new Civil Aviation Security Programme and the Civil Aviation Security Quality Control Programme in the first quarter of 2009;
n To respond to the growing concern of human factors in civil aviation operations, AACM deployed the “Threat Image Projection” technology for carry-on baggage screening at Macau International Airport to allow a more reliable and accurate identification of the screener’s performance;
n The low cost carrier operations have been introduced into Macao in 2004. Since then, the number of tourists has increased and the passenger profile has been diversified, reducing the dependence of Macao as a transit point between the cross straits and realizing Macao as a tourist destination;
n The aeronautical authorities of mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao signed cooperation arrangements on mutual acceptance of maintenance organizations and mutual acceptance of airworthiness certification, reducing the economic burden of the industry as well as the time for administrative operations. The three parties will cooperate with each other on maintenance training organization acceptance and aircraft maintenance engineer licensing in the future. In addition to the above information papers, AACM presented a discussion paper on the theme topic for the 47th DGCA. In view of the recent challenges faced by the aviation industry worldwide and the global forecast of the recovery to be in 2010, AACM proposed “Through the Turbulence, Working Together for the Recovery and Enhanced Development of Aviation” as the theme topic for next year, which was supported by the participants and adopted by the Conference. The Conference was attended by 35 member States and Administrations and 6 international organizations, with approximately 250 delegates. The DGCA, Asia and Pacific Regions is a high level governmental conference of aviation the Region which is convened every year and participated by the directors-general and government officials of the aeronautical authorities and representatives from international organizations. The conference is organized by the member State or Administration who proposes their candidacy to ICAO. To cope with the direction of the SAR government in building up Macao as an Asian convention and exhibition centre, AACM nominated Macao to host the 47th DGCA and was awarded. For this reason, the Authority set up an exhibition booth at the conference venue to promote Macao’s tourism and aviation to the participants for hosting the 47th DGCA.
