Montreal, 23 September - 3 October 2025 — Strong and united engagement from the European Member States was evident at the 42nd ICAO Assembly, where States, organisations and industry played a leading role in shaping global civil aviation policy across all major areas of ICAO’s work.
This year’s Assembly was chaired by H.E. Eng. Naif Al Abri (DGCA Oman), who demonstrated strong leadership and exceptional commitment to lead the 192 participating States to positive outcomes. The European region’s leadership was reflected in the Assembly’s structure: Jón Gunnar Jónsson (Iceland) served as vice-president, Declan Fitzpatrick (Ireland) chaired the Technical Commission, Ana Vieira da Mata (Portugal) and Machteld Cambridge (Netherlands) were vice-chairs of the Economic and Legal Commissions respectively, and Dimitrios Azemopoulos (Greece) chaired the Credentials Committee.
Within the Technical Commission, representatives from the region advanced discussions on global safety planning, air navigation priorities, and emerging technologies. The papers submitted by Europe addressed both strategic and operational topics, such as GNSS resilience, the safe integration of space operations, ATM innovation, and the impacts of hazardous meteorological events. These contributions supported ICAO’s work on the Global Aviation Safety Plan (2026–2028) and digital transformation. The delegations also took part in policy discussions on artificial intelligence, advocating for a global and responsible framework for innovation.
Europe remained at the forefront of environmental actions, submitting papers on advancing the implementation of the long-term global aspirational goal (LTAG) and climate financing. Interventions emphasised maintaining CORSIA as the single global market-based measure for international aviation, and underlined the need for robust regulation, financing, transparency and global participation in achieving global climate objectives.
Further contributions addressed cyber security, aviation security, innovation, accessibility, and irregular migration. These contributions complemented the Assembly’s adoption of the Muscat Declaration on Aviation Security, updated consolidated AVSEC and cyber security resolutions, and new facilitation provisions, including accessibility measures.
In economic discussions, the European papers addressed the impact of supply chain disruptions and human capital shortages, highlighting the need for coordinated action to support the resilience and sustainability of the aviation ecosystem.
The adoption of several resolutions, and amendments to existing ones, together with the adoption of the budget for the next triennium, will provide a solid framework for ICAO operations in the years to come.