The 39th Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was held from 27 September to 7 October 2016. A much awaited event, particularly as the global community anxiously looked forward to being presented with a long due economic instrument that would introduce a global market based measure scheme to manage aircraft engine emissions, the Assembly adopted several resolutions in the safety, security and environmental fields as well as in the legal field. The policy adopted at the Assembly defines the direction that Member States as well as ICAO should take in moving forward over the three years to follow. Additionally, the 39th Session was flavoured with a new and desirable dimension that couched the resolutions implicitly within two key concepts that have become the overarching philosophy of the Organization. The first of these concepts is the No Country Left Behind initiative of the ICAO Council and the second represents a concerted effort at supporting the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations through aviation. This article discusses key resolutions adopted and their nuances for the future of aviation through a legal and policy analysis.
Air and Space Law