By Mohamed Attia
Chairman of EgyptAir Holding company Yehia Zakaria participated in the 94th Executive Committee meeting of the Arab Air Carriers’ Organisation (AACO) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The meeting was chaired by Ibrahim Al-Omar, Director General of Saudia Group and chairman of AACO’s executive committee, in the presence of Abdul Wahab Teffaha, AACO Secretary General, along with chairpersons and CEOs from the committee member Arab airlines.
The Executive Committee oversees AACO’s overall work, with a focus on collaborative projects among its members.
The Committee’s meeting sets the path for the 56th Annual General Meeting, which will be hosted in Riyadh between October 30 and November 1, 2023.
The meeting discussed the current state of the industry, including the recovery of the aviation sector and the increasing travel demand following the Covid-19 crisis.
It also highlighted the world’s latest geopolitical challenges and their impacts, while delving into significant issues related to the environment and aviation.
The meeting focused on the importance of digital transformation and developing innovative solutions that enable the airlines to improve their services and offer better experiences to their customers.
Additionally, the Committee reviewed the latest developments of the current joint projects between AACO members, and some administrative and financial affairs for the organisation.
Among the topics discussed during the meeting was the European Union legislation that requires the use of 2 per cent of sustainable fuel as of 2025, 6 per cent in 2030, 32 per cent in 2040, and 63 per cent in 2050. Some European countries also imposed decisions on airlines that land and take off at their airports to use a percentage of sustainable fuel in their flights, leading to additional financial burdens on airlines.
The meeting also confirmed that ICAO’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) programme is the only mechanism to deal with international aviation emissions. Therefore, airlines must determine ways to meet CORSIA requirements, whether by purchasing COR certificates, or through controlling emissions resulting from airline flights so that it remains below the baseline of 85 per cent as per 2019 emissions levels.
The AACO meeting also recommended the necessity of discussing the requirements for achieving the ambitious goal of 2050 to support global airlines in providing sustainable fuel in Arab countries to reduce costs and emissions resulting from transporting it from distant regions.
It is worth mentioning that AACO member airlines have committed to Net-Zero Emissions in 2050.
The meeting recommended the need of working together under ICAO to develop guiding material specific for safeguarding the integrity of air services agreements in times of crises based on a set of principles that ensure dialogue between parties of the agreements, consultations, transparency, and clarity and a clear pathway to go back to normalcy.
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