ICAO must address issues of unfair standards, AI inequity in regional aviation – Pres Ali

…as 3rd Forum for Aviation Safety opens in Guyana

President Dr Irfaan Ali has called on the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to address disparities in airport standards and inequities in access to and use of artificial intelligence (AI), as part of efforts to build a more integrated aviation system and enhance safety across the industry.
He made the call on Tuesday while delivering the feature address at the 3rd Global Regional Safety Oversight Organisations (RSOO) and Regional Accident and Investigation Organisation (RAIO) Forum for Aviation Safety taking place in Georgetown. The two-day event is being hosted by Guyana in partnership with the ICAO and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

Artificial Intelligence
According to President Ali, the conference must deal with the matter of AI in aviation – something, which he noted, was not listed on the agenda.
“We cannot meet today to discuss aviation safety and not have AI, the consequences of AI and the importance of AI on the agenda,” he remarked, adding that “it would not be correct, I think, given the global realities”.
“Your agenda, I believe, must be able to lead your discussions towards an AI strategy for the aviation sector, especially as it relates to safety, issues of regulations, adaptability, equity and integration. Because if you don’t have equity in the buildout of AI in the aviation sector, especially for safety, then you will have disparity, you will have unevenness, you will have different rules and you will have countries being left behind,” he explained.
“So, it’s important that ICAO and all of the organisations, from this moment, adapt an AI strategy that is shared among all your membership, that identifies the opportunities, threats, possibilities, but importantly, start the conversation on the regulations that will govern AI and safety in this industry, I think this is critical, this is very, very important,” President Ali added.
In this regard, he urged the establishment of an expert group to examine this matter with urgency.

Regional standards
President Ali also called on the ICAO to address the issue of uneven standards being applied to transiting passengers in various airports, particularly in the region.
“ICAO, you need to do a lot of work also in dispelling some of what I think, it’s the false proposition out there, like the different standards in transit passenger. Every airport you go across the region, there are different standards…I mean you’re clearing security to go to US and you’re just going through a door to transit to another flight, in some jurisdiction, they take you back through the entire system and they say that’s the ICAO standard. We know that’s not true because we’ve tested it, but you have these different standards applied at different airports and you must take this into consideration because equity is important,” Ali stressed.
“A passenger must not believe that there are different standards for different airports in the same region. That is not going to build confidence in the system, that is allowing passengers to believe that the system is discriminatory in effect and these are tough conversations but they are necessary conversations,” he further emphasised.
According to the Guyanese leader who emphasised that the ultimate goal should be safer travel, fewer hassles for passengers, greater equity, and more consistent standards and regulations across airports. In this regard, he encouraged collective effort to ensure, at least in the region, airports are operating at similar standards.
“I saw a year ago, the issue of audits, airport audits, and a number of our airports in the region having challenge in terms of meeting the audit standards and the minimum score. I believe that we should not look at this as a problem, but I believe that we should have a very frank discussion in this conference, put together a team because I believe in the region…we should put together a team, identify all of the gaps and have that team work in ensuring that we resolve all issues in relation to those gaps,” Ali said.
“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, we don’t need to do this in isolation. Some countries have done it already, let us put together a team that will help the region because if one of our airports in the region does not meet the standards, it affects all of us, because we’re interconnected,” he added.