International Civil Aviation Organization

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), an agency of the United Nations, codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth.

The ICAO Council adopts standards and recommended practices concerning air navigation, prevention of unlawful interference, and facilitation of border-crossing procedures for international civil aviation.

In addition, the ICAO defines the protocols for air accident investigation followed by transport safety authorities in countries signatory to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, commonly known as the Chicago Convention. See NTSB, TSB, AAIB, BFU, and BEA.

Its headquarters are located in the Quartier International of Montreal, Canada.

The ICAO should not be confused with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade organization for airlines also headquartered in Montreal.

ICAO Codes

Both ICAO and IATA have their own airport and airline code systems. ICAO uses 4-letter airport codes, and 3-letter airline codes. IATA is scheduled to eventually switch its codes to the ICAO standard.

ICAO is also responsible for issuing alphanumeric aircraft type codes that contain 3 or 4 characters. These codes provide the identification that is typically used in flight plans. An example of this is the Boeing 747 that would use (depending on the variant) B741, B742 ,B743, etc.

ICAO provides telephony designators to aircraft operators worldwide. These consist of the three letter airline identifer and a one or two word designator. They are usually, but not always, similar to the aircraft operator name. Thus the identifer for Aer Lingus is EIN and the designator is Shamrock while Japan Airlines International is JAL and Japan Air . So a flight by Aer Lingus numbered 111 would be written as "EIN111" and pronounced "Shamrock 111" on the radio, while a similarly numbered Japan Airlines flight would be written as "JAL111" and "Japan Air 111".

ICAO maintains the standards for aircraft registration ("tail numbers"), including the alphanumeric codes that identify the country of registration.

ICAO statute

The 8th edition of the Convention on International Civil Aviation includes modifications from 1948 up to year 2000. The ICAO refers to its current edition of the convention the statute, and designates it as ICAO Doc 7300/8.

The convention has 18 annexes:
*Annex 1 - Personnel Licensing
*Annex 2 - Rules of the Air
*Annex 3 - Meteorological Service for International Air Navigation
*Annex 4 - Aeronautical Charts
*Annex 5 - Units of Measurement to be Used in Air and Ground Operations
*Annex 6 - Operation of Aircraft - Aeroplanes
*Annex 7 - Aircraft Nationality and Registration Marks
*Annex 8 - Airworthiness of Aircraft
*Annex 9 - Facilitation
*Annex 10 - Aeronautical Telecommunications - Digital Data Communication Systems
*Annex 11 - Air Traffic Services
*Annex 12 - Search and Rescue
*Annex 13 - Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation
*Annex 14 - Aerodromes - Aerodrome Design and Operations, Heliports
*Annex 15 - Aeronautical Information Services
*Annex 16 - Environmental Protection - Aircraft Noise
*Annex 17 - Security: Safeguarding International Civil Aviation Against Acts of Unlawful Interference
*Annex 18 - The Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air

ICAO standards

The ICAO also standardizes certain functions for use in the airline industry, such as the Aeronautical Message Handling System AMHS; this probably makes it a standards organization.

Regions and regional offices

The ICAO has seven regional offices serving nine regions:

1. Asia and Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand :2. Middle East, Cairo, Egypt:3. Western and Central Africa, Dakar, Senegal :4. South America, Lima, Peru :5. North America, Central America and Caribbean, Mexico City, Mexico :6. Eastern and Southern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya :7. Europe and North Atlantic, Paris, France

ICAO Leadership

List of Secretary-Generals

* Albert Roper (1944-1951)
* Carl Ljungberg (1952-1959)
* Ronald MacAllister Macdonnell (1959-1964)
* Bernardus Tielman Twigt (1964-1970)
* Assad Kotaite (1970-1976)
* Yves Lambert (1976-1988)
* Shivinder Singh Sidhu (1988-1991)
* Philippe Rochat (1991-1997)
* Renato Claudio Costa Pereira (1997-2003)
* Taieb Cherif (2003-Present)

List of Council Presidents

* Edward Pearson Warner (1947-1957)
* Walter Binaghi (1957-1976)
* Assad Kotaite (1976-2006)
* Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez (2006-Present)

See also

*Air safety
*Flight planning
*ICAO airline designator
*ICAO airport code
*Kenneth Beaumont

External links

* International Civil Aviation Organization website
* ICAO airport code prefixes (not to be confused with the IATA location identifiers)
* ICAO aircraft manufacturer codes
* List of ICAO contracting states