Story ID: 
ICAO Punts on Airspace Risk Assessment
By: James Wynbrandt
Caption: The agency’s limitations in this role have been “revealed” since launching its conflict zone information repository after the 2014 downing of flight MH17.
Word Count: 194
“Different political perspectives” among member states have rendered ICAO “unable to provide a common global assessment of risk” for aviation operations, Steve Creamer, the director of ICAO's Air Navigation Bureau, told attendees at the recent NBAA International Operators Conference (IOC) in Atlanta.

The agency’s limitations in this role have been “revealed” since it launched its conflict zone information repository after the 2014 downing of Flight MH17 over Ukraine, he said. However, a survey conducted in January by ICAO, IATA, IBAC and ACI concluded appropriate information on risks to civil aviation is available through “multiple corporate solutions” that “do not depend on the political apparatus in one state.”

Creamer added, “Even in the U.S., [warnings] might not be as timely as we’d like to see,” due to the “diplomatic ramifications” of publishing them. Countering that last notion, Elliot Fertik of the U.S. Department of State said in prepared remarks on threat status, “If we know something, you know something. If we have information of a potential threat, distributed in the official government community, it’s given to private citizens. Bilateral relations don’t affect these warnings.”