We need to set the stage for more deeply integrating sustainability into strategic frameworks. Aviation growth will take flight in the very places where it is needed most: emerging markets that urgently need stronger ties to the global economy. The challenge for air transport will be to deliver this long-promised lifeline while meeting global climate targets.
Air transport for all by 2050, with zero fatalities and net-zero carbon emissions. This is the extraordinary ambition of ICAO’s 25-year strategic plan. The recently concluded ICAO Aviation Climate Week provided a significant kick-off in this first year of the plan, gathering leaders, experts, and innovators to explore pathways for sustainable growth, in line with ICAO’s detailed roadmaps.
Diplomats underscored the urgency of enhancing aviation’s approach to climate change issues, highlighting the critical importance of using ICAO’s upcoming Worldwide Air Transport Conference to update the global economic frameworks to ensure optimal support for aviation’s green and climate resilient transformation.
Held roughly once every ten years, Air Transport Conferences set the global policy agenda for the economic regulation of international aviation. The recommendations adopted by States help shape the rules governing issues such as investment and ownership, market access, and competition. The Conferences directly inform ICAO’s own economic policies and additionally inform States’ positions at the ICAO Assembly and Council. In this way, the conferences influence aviation agreements and economic policies worldwide.
Opening at ICAO’s Montréal Headquarters on 16 November 2026, this seventh edition of the Conference will bring together a broad coalition of state policymakers and air transport leaders. The conference will make sustainable growth accessible to every country and community, sparking investments that create new business models and jobs, including for the new low-carbon industry. In this way, this decisive coalition would respond to the ICAO Aviation Climate Week’s call for financing and cross-sector collaboration
The green transformation is already in motion. Advances from green runway design to smart weather forecasting are energizing the industry, and recent surveys show that the majority of stakeholders are taking action on sustainable innovation, adaptive infrastructure, and investment in resilience.
The Air Transport Conference provides an opportunity to scale these solutions, ensure consistent funding, and share best practices globally. That is why the conference will emphasize equitable progress, ensuring developing countries and small island states have access to resources, partnerships, and expertise. This is especially important for the world’s most vulnerable regions, where economic opportunity and essential services often depend entirely on reliable air connectivity.
By embedding green investment and adaptation into national economic strategic planning, countries can build a foundation for growth that is both resilient and inclusive. It is why this event provides a decisive opportunity to ensure global connectivity strengthens as a catalyst for sustainable economic development, in full alignment with ICAO’s strategic vision for 2050.
ICAO will lead the creation of a new economic framework, and is calling on its Member States and all stakeholders to support this effort. The world cannot afford to wait another decade for it. With ICAO Aviation Climate Week having revealed the “how”, the challenge for ICAO’s Air Transport Conference will be to demonstrate the “now.”
Because it is a policy conference, participation in ATConf/7 is limited to ICAO Member States and invited participants. To complement these discussions, there will be an exhibition held alongside the Conference, providing organizations with opportunities to showcase technologies, services and initiatives that support the continued development and resilience of international air transport.
We are welcoming organizations that work in areas like innovation, financing, infrastructure, digitalization and other initiatives that contribute to the future of air transport. For exhibitors, the event offers a unique opportunity to engage with the international aviation community gathered for one of ICAO’s most significant policy conferences, while demonstrating solutions that can help shape the future of global aviation.
Organizations interested in exhibition or sponsorship opportunities can find additional information here.