Asia's biggest civil aviation conference arrives in Incheon on Monday

A flight flies over Gimpo International Airport on Friday. [YONHAP]

The biggest aviation conference in the Asia Pacific region will be held in Incheon this week, returning to Korea for the first time in 21 years.

The conference is held as countries have been gradually lifting travel restrictions adopted in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, including mandatory quarantine. Korea last week reopened flights between Gimpo International Airport and Japan’s Haneda International Airport for the first time since 2020.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Sunday, the 57th Conference of Directors General of Civil Aviation, Asia Pacific Regions, will be held at Paradise City Resort in Incheon for five days starting Monday.

The conference is jointly held with the International Civil Aviation Organization, the biggest aviation organization with 193 member countries.

This year, top officials in related fields including civil aviation authority director generals as well as representatives of international organizations from 41 countries and territories in the Asia Pacific region will attend to discuss the restoration of air networks as well as strengthening regional cooperation.

Attendees include ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano, Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar and Director of the Air Navigation Bureau Stephen Creamer.

Kim Yong-seong, head of the ministry’s Office of Civil Aviation, will be assuming the role of conference chairman, the first time Korea has taken the role.

The last time Korea hosted ICAO’s Asia-Pacific conference was in 2001.

This is the fourth time that Korea is hosting the conference, after 1968, 1980 and 2001.

While the conference is normally held annually, due to Covid-19 it was last held in Bangladesh in 2020.

Incheon will also host a two-day Conference on International Air Transport Cooperation (CIAT) at the Grand Hyatt Hotel starting Tuesday.

This conference, which was first created in 2004, is held every three years.

This year, the CIAT for the first time will be holding a session on environment, social and governance (ESG) issues in the airline energy businesses, including net zero strategies and climate change response.

Korea plans to introduce the country’s decarbonization measures.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]