Kick-off meeting on communication for civil aviation
5 July - A first meeting on communication for civil aviation was organised by the ECAC Secretariat for 11 communication specialists from France, Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.
Initiated by the Coordinating Committee following the adoption of ECAC's new Communication Strategy by Directors General at their last meeting (DGCA/156, 5 May 2021), the purpose of the kick-off meeting was to share experience and information amongst the communication specialists in the Coordinating Committee Member States.
Participants considered ECAC's Communication Strategy and reviewed examples of key messages by domain with a view to updating Appendix 7 of the Strategy. Two brainstorming sessions, the first on the role of communication to promote civil aviation and during a crisis (such as on accident investigations, COVID-19) and related best practices, and the second on media relations, offered participants an opportunity to exchange best practices on handling media requests and on the role of spokespersons.
In conclusion, participants were keen to launch a network of communication specialists open to all 44 ECAC Member States, agreeing that it would be a great opportunity to exchange views on communication issues and the challenges faced by these specialists. Following the very positive feedback received from the kick-off meeting, ECAC's Coordinating Committee, at their meeting on 13 July 2021, approved the creation of a network of communication specialists comprising all ECAC Member States, which would meet virtually twice a year.