ICAO’s 75th Anniversary: Celebrating the pivotal importance of safety

19,843

The continuous enhancement of safety has always been the cornerstone of the sustainable development of civil aviation. This fact itself is no accident: the visionaries who conceived the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation, which is the foundation of international air connectivity and ICAO itself, fully understood the imperative of placing safety as the first priority of flight. That is why they gave ICAO’s member States the means to cooperate to ensure safety as a way to foster the development of the then-nascent industry.

Seventy-five years later, the international civil aviation network carries over four billion passengers annually. Thanks to the tremendous safety achievements that our industry has accomplished, they take to the skies confidently, seeking family and friends, commercial opportunities and cultural discoveries.  And they deliver these benefits to the communities at their destinations, too.

As part of ICAO’s 75th Anniversary Celebrations, my team and I would like to highlight some of the crucial safety achievements that have enabled this. We hope you follow our UnitingAviation.com series as we share these highlights throughout the year, and we encourage you to use the #ICAO75 hashtag to share your thoughts and memories with us through social media.


About the Author

Catalin Radu has been the Deputy Director of the Air Navigation Bureau at ICAO in charge of Aviation Safety since September 2014. He held a number of executive and managerial positions at the Romanian Ministry of Transport and at the European level with over 20 years’ experience in aviation safety and international aviation organizations. He also served as President of ECAC, Vice President of EUROCONTROL and ECAC’s Focal Point for Safety Matters.