On September 2nd (local time), from its headquarters in Montreal (Canada), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) issued a statement affirming that it is urgently completing the review and update of two technical guidance documents, including "Handbook on safety measures related to military operations" and "Handbook on risk assessment for civil aviation operations on or near conflict zones".
The new set of regulations focuses on improving the proactive risk prevention capacity for national aviation management agencies, commercial airlines and air traffic safety service providers.
The United Nations Aviation Surveillance Agency warns that the risk of high-tech weapons such as long-range missile systems, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAS), global satellite positioning system (GNSS) and advanced high-altitude air defense systems aimed at or accidentally hitting passenger aircraft is increasing alarmingly globally.
ICAO requires member states to proactively assess the level of safety in their controlled airspace, and at the same time implement all corresponding preventive measures. Commercial airlines must also strictly conduct flight safety and security risk assessments in accordance with current guidance frameworks.
In particular, ICAO sets out an urgent requirement for member states to establish a rapid threat intelligence sharing mechanism, strengthen the capacity to make timely decisions and tighten the combat coordination mechanism between military officials and civil aviation to eliminate the risk of misidentifying passenger aircraft as military targets.
Previously, air security tensions heated up when Ukraine sent a letter to ICAO requesting this agency to promote a comprehensive flight ban on Russian airspace.
The move took place immediately after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's statement warning that Russian airspace is "completely unsafe" in the face of an increasing wave of military response from Ukraine.
In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that threatening warnings to civil aviation are acts of state terrorism and affirmed that Russia is determined not to compromise. At the same time, Russian Minister of Transport Andrey Nikitin emphasized that the country is maintaining full security measures to prevent any disruption or interruption to commercial flight operations.
