Forword

THE NEED TO EVOLVE

zby DUNCAN AULD, IFATCA President & CEO

The world is forever changing, maybe now more than ever. As we shift from one era to another, we reflect on our successes and challenges in the past, and plan for the future ahead of us.

The pace of technological development at the moment is exponential, making planned timelines compress and increasing uncertainty in the long term. We must remain strong on our core principles of the profession, on system design and human interaction, and of the Federation.

To maintain our place on the world stage the Federation must evolve, as any other organisation does, to stay relevant, efficient, and influential. Our 2030+ Task Force has been working tirelessly over the past year to build a roadmap of the Federation for the coming decade. This will be broken down depending on the topic into phases, projects, or action plans, to implement over the coming years. This should result in more tangible deliverables to the Member Associations and build engagement across the regions.

To look back at the past 100 years of air traffic control, we have a dedicated team producing a book summarising the history of the profession based on extensive research, which will be available soon for distribution. What is notable is that for the 100 years of ATC, the Federation has existed for over half of that, and with our office in Montreal for a quarter of a century. Our place in Montreal is essential at cementing our position in the international aviation community, among the offices of the other international organisations and of course ICAO.

We just passed the first week of the 41st General Assembly of ICAO, and our team has promoted the Federations objectives and policies, while also building the relationships and reputation that maintains the influence we need to make progress. Issues such as climate change have been debated at length, albeit overshadowed by the discussions regarding the complexities of international airspace as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. What have been considered international norms and customary law are no longer as certain as they once were, leaving the general public, aviation, and air traffic controllers left to navigate the actions of the puppet masters. As an international collective body, we expect cooperation, diplomacy and negotiation as the basis for action and change.

Shifting from policy to implementation, we are ramping up the training course programs as we move out of the pandemic. Course development remains focused on key issues that are high on our priority list such as safety culture, English language proficiency, competency based training, critical incident stress management, and so on. Aside from operational issues we also support the transition to a more diverse profession, in line with the modern workforce. The promotion of women in aviation, among other under-represented groups, enables our profession to utilise the best available resources building capacity and capability for the coming years.

As we happily exit the pandemic we look forward to seeing many of you at the upcoming regional meetings. These meetings are important as they provide a closer relationship with many associations and operational controllers. The meetings will be progressively enhanced to provide more benefits and influence, building the capacity of the regions within the Federation.

As for the annual conference, we finally look certain to hold Conference 2023 in Jamaica, an event we have all been waiting for. I know the team there is doing an outstanding effort to prepare to host you all, and I am sure you will experience an amazing time if you can make it. y

pcx@ifatca.org