Championing Aviation Services Worldwide
Snapshot ASA Leadership Forum (ALF) 2024:
Last week, we held our 3rd Annual Ground and Cargo Handling event, ALF 2024, in Istanbul, Türkiye. We started with a joint Supervisory and Operating Boards meeting that underscored ASA’s commitment to expanding its reach.
The forum gathered aviation leaders from around the world to address and discuss critical industry challenges. One central theme was undoubtedly industry standards: ASA Chairman Hassan El Houry commented, “When minimum standards become absolute standards across our industry, we can restore pride in aviation careers, boosting our ability to attract and retain top talent.”
The ASA team takes this opportunity to recall that ALF is the only event where a portion of the proceeds goes back to the Association, thus giving it more means to better serve the industry. There were 784 attendees this time, marking a 32% increase over 2023.
Our thanks go to our members, partners, and EVA International, the event organizer, for their unwavering support. We look forward to protracting this positive momentum with ALF 2025 (14-16 October) in Copenhagen, Denmark, as the Kastrup airport is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Eurocontrol NDOP Meeting
ASA attended the 2nd Eurocontrol Network Director of Operations (NDOP) meeting of the year on 3 October in Rome, Italy. With increasing concerns over additional delays and disruptions due to air traffic controller shortages, severe weather conditions or poor adherence to flight schedules by airlines, ASA emphasized the need for GHSPs input to improve the network resilience.
U.S. FAA Meeting
On October 10, ASA met with the U.S. FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker during his visit to Brussels. ASA raised the question of safe ground operations in the U.S. and suggested parallels with the European legislative process, the EU Member States having just adopted the proposal from EASA on the forthcoming GH regulation on 16 October. The Administrator acknowledged the concerns and said he was ready for further dialogue with ASA in the course of next year.
International Aviation Forum (IAF)
As a member of the Industry Aviation Forum (along with IATA, ACI, CANSO, TIACA, IFATSEA, ICCAIA, etc.), ASA co-signed a declaration underscoring the global significance of civil aviation for humankind. With over 8 trillion USD contributing to the economy and 4 billion passengers annually, this declaration will be released at the upcoming 80th Anniversary of the signature of the ICAO's Chicago Convention.
Joint SB and OB Meeting
On 29 October, ASA hosted its 2nd joint Supervisory and Operating Boards meeting in Istanbul. Among other things, several milestone achievements were presented, including the final draft of the Steer report on the state of the industry, and the first version of the ASA Operating Standards. These documents will soon be available to members and made public thereafter.
