Ruwantissa Abeyratne

Global Aviation Consultancies Inc · Air Law and Policy, Air Transport Economics

This article examines the revolutionary concept of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) and its potential to transform urban and regional transportation. It begins by contextualizing AAM within the broader trajectory of aviation advancements, showcasing its emergence as a cutting-edge solution for modern transportation challenges. The discussion highlights...

The comparison between air law and maritime law reveals both similarities and distinctions rooted in the unique frameworks of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and The International Maritime Organization (IMO). While both entities were established through separate treaties, the Chicago Convention birthed ICAO, emphasizing the org...

The progress of international civil aviation law is anchored on two main sources: The Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention); and Resolutions adopted by the Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). These two sources give rise to subsidiary guidance in the form of Annexes to the Convention and manual...

The forty-first session of the Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was held from 27 September to 7 October 2022. This session was significant when viewed from a legal perspective as it heralded the seventy-fifth anniversary of the ICAO Legal Committee; its service to the legal community; and its importance in initiating...

No Country Left Behind (NCLB) is a proactive initiative of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that is confined to the nineteen Annexes to the Chicago Convention and ICAO’s safety and security audits. This gives one the impression that, beyond assisting Member States on complying with the Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) of...

The first provision in this chapter is standard 4.1which speaks of delay in the release and clearance of cargo. Standard 4.1 requires that in order to facilitate and expedite the release and clearance of goods carried by air, Contracting States must adopt regulations and procedures appropriate to air cargo operations and shall apply them in such a...

The discussions throughout the rest of this book will reflect the numerical denominations of the various Standards under consideration. As mentioned below, Recommended Practices are not part of the discussions herein as their coercive nature is minimized by their definition, giving States the discretion not to follow them as they are mere recommend...

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) held its High-level Conference on COVID-19 (HLCC 2021) from 12 to 22 October 2021. The somewhat wordy theme of the conference was ‘One Vision for Aviation Recovery, Resilience and Sustainability beyond the Global Pandemic’. Even more ambitious, albeit laudable in motive was its objective of seeki...

At the outset, Annex 9 sets out basic principles for global harmonization and these principles would be relevant in the context of vaccination records and certificates required by States for the admission of passengers during the pandemic as well as its aftermath. Standard 5.1 provides that in order to minimize disruptions to the orderly operations...

Annex 9 is derived from the Chicago Convention and applies to all categories of aircraft operation, except where a particular provision refers specifically to only one type of operation. In terms of general principles, the Facilitation Manual which accompanies the Annex contains guidance with a view to assisting States in adhering to the provisions...

This chapter of the Annex commences with the general requirement in Standard 3.1 requiring regulations and procedures applied to persons travelling by air not to be less favourable than those applied to persons travelling by other means of transport. This provision establishes, in limine, a certain parity of status between air transport and surface...

We are on the threshold of momentous change and well into the world of networks, platforms and megatrends, which have to blend harmoniously both during the pandemic and in a post pandemic world to ensure air transport’s return to a “new normal”. Digital technology, as was discussed in the book in the context of digital records and documentation, wo...

The term “unruly passengers” refers to passengers who fail to respect the rules of conduct on board aircraft or to follow the instructions of crew members and thereby disturb the good order and discipline on board aircraft. Inadmissible persons, deportees and other persons in custody that are being removed from a State by air transport can become d...

The Coronavirus pandemic has brought to bear the fundamental fact that the spread was due to global population movement mostly caused by air transport. It was therefore inevitable that the central role in facing the crisis would be played by States and the International Civil Aviation Organization as the specialized agency of the United Nations for...

Understandably, the overall approach of airports to the post COVID-19 pandemic has been focused on cultural adaptation with a view to securing economic sustenance. It follows therefore that economic sustenance would depend on whether the passenger would choose to go through a particular airport if he has other choices, particularly in transit. The...

The Coronavirus (a cousin of the SARS virus (an acronym for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome which was first discovered in Asia in February 2003) spread quickly, and as at Saturday 25th January, it had killed 41 people and infected 14,000 people in China. The virus had spread across borders to Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, France and the United S...

Albert Camus starts his novel The Plague, which he started in 1941 and published in 1947, with a description of an “ugly” French Algerian town called Oran where “…certainly nothing is commoner nowadays than to see people working from morn till night and then proceeding to fritter away at card-tables, in cafes and in small-talk what time is left for...

The Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization states inter alia that Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity and that the extension to all peoples of the benefits of medical, psychological, and related knowledge is essential to the fullest attainmen...

At the time this book was being written—in late January 2021—there were many vaccinations available against the COVID-19 virus. However, there were also the usual self serving interests of States and individuals emerging. the Director General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued a serious warning that the world is on t...

As of 7 April 2020, The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reported that there had been over a million confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally with 74,066 deaths. The number of deaths had doubled over the figures on 31 March 2020. The rapidity with which the disease—which has affected the entire world—spread over February and March wit...

As this chapter was being finalized in early May 2021, the latest figures released by the World Health Organization (WHO) were that “globally, there were 153.7 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections with 3.2 million deaths recorded and 1047 million vaccine doses administered. The numbers were growing daily as on 21 April 2021 the figures sh...

International Health Regulations (IHR) of 2005 of WHO were promulgated with the purpose and scope “to prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease in ways that are commensurate with and restricted to public health risks, and which avoid unnecessary interference with international traf...

The book discusses legal, ethical, economic and trade aspects of the Pandemic as it affects air transport. It commences with the chronology of the virus spread and examines the various facets of human existential perspectives affected by the pandemic. Following this background is an evaluation of the effect on trade and economics, as well as the le...

Understandably, the overall approach of airports to the post-COVID-19 pandemic has been focused on cultural adaptation with a view to securing economic sustenance. It follows therefore that economic sustenance would depend on whether the passenger would choose to go through a particular airport if he or she has other choices, particularly in transi...

Aviation is at the inflection point in the current digital age. The areas discussed in this book: from sovereignty to cybercrime as well as from drones to identification of the traveller and privacy will be profoundly affected by algorithms. So will air traffic services and aeronautical communications. As Harari says: “soon authority might shift ag...

One of the most harmful and unwanted costs in air transport is the cost incurred by airlines on delay. It is said that the direct cost of air transportation delay is USD 32.9 billion which incurs a loss of USD 8.3 billion to airlines. Digital technology may greatly alleviate this problem as well as problems caused to the industry by the rise of mob...

Telecommunications is an area which would impact aviation in light of digital advances taking place. Annex 10 (Aeronautical Telecommunications) to the Chicago Convention is directly in point and ICAO’s relations with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) in Annex 10 are developed in a...

At the 40th Session of the ICAO Assembly, the Assembly adopted Resolution A40-10: Addressing Cybersecurity in Civil Aviation which initially recognized that the global aviation system is a highly complex and integrated system that comprises information and communications technology critical for the safety and security of civil aviation operations....

In ICAO parlance, drones include elements such as ground control stations, data links and other support equipment. A similar term is an unmanned-aircraft vehicle system (UAVS), remotely piloted aerial vehicle (RPAV), remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS). Drones are intrinsically linked to air traffic management and air traffic growth which doubl...

In the current digital age and in the future, activities in outer space will have a critical bearing on air space and the operation of aircraft. Now more than ever before, it becomes necessary to discuss demarcation of air space and outer space for purposes of establishing jurisdiction in the determination of acts performed in both strata. Digital...

Air transport in the digital age is showing portentous signs of warning. Boeing has faced multiple liabilities as a result of two air crashes of its 737 MAX 8 aircraft—an upgrade of its standard 737 aircraft—within a span of 5 months. On 29 October 2018, the Indonesian carrier Lion Air operated Flight 610—a scheduled domestic flight operated from S...

The genesis of the law of the community of nations—as introduced by the Peace of Westphalia of 1648—was hinged on the unquestionable and inalienable right enjoyed by States to the exclusion of others and immune from interference from other States or persons. This has evolved through the ages, particularly with the advent of globalization, communica...

At the time of writing, the existing controversy of the two Boeing 737 MAX8 aircraft brought to bear the effect of the digital world on aviation. A faulty digital application had overridden human intervention, leaving the “confident” flight crew baffled and helpless in their control of the aircraft, resulting in the loss of lives of several hundred...

The aviation industry is made up of the air transport; airport; air navigation services; and aircraft manufacturers industries as well as other business activities such as travel agencies and ground handling services. All these are at the cusp of exponential growth requiring adaptation to technological innovation, notably among which are codes that...

One of the most important legal issues that emerge from the digital age and its impact on air transport is the digitalization of passenger information and the attendant rights of the passenger, particularly in view of the legal interpretations that have arisen. Before getting into legalities and judicial pronouncements and interpretations on the la...

Current aviation law and regulation, which has evolved over 75 years stand at an inflexion point where principles pertaining thereto have to be interpreted within the realm of the digital age. Starting with Article 1 which establishes the cornerstone of aviation law, which established that the contracting States to the Convention recognise that eve...

There are several megatrends which bring to bear the realization that we live in a digital world. This is turn affects the direction aviation is taking. A megatrend is a global direction towards which a large transformative force drives the entire world. It is not sectarian, affecting merely a part of the world; region; or country. Megatrends affec...

The 40th Session of the triennial Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) took place in Montreal from 24 September to 4 October 2019. Notably, 2019 marked some important milestones in aviation: the 100th anniversary of the Paris Convention relating to the regulation of aerial navigation, signed on 13 October 1919; the 90th...

All of the topics discussed in this book – from sovereignty to cybercrime, and from drones to the identification of passengers & privacy – are profoundly affected by algorithms; so are air traffic services and aeronautical communications. All of these aviation-related aspects are addressed in a 75-year-old treaty called the Chicago Convention and i...

Against the backdrop of enormous technological strides, this book argues that the air transport industry must be constantly vigilant in its efforts to employ a legal regime that is applicable to the aeronautical and human aspects of the carriage by air of persons and goods. In this regard, safety and security are of the utmost importance, both in t...

The Agenda of items in the Work Programme of the Legal Committee of ICAO for its 37th session comprised: Study of legal issues relating to remotely piloted aircraft; Consideration of guidance on conflicts of interest; Acts or offences of concern to the international aviation community and not covered by existing air law instruments; Consideration,...

ICAO recognizes that aviation is now poised to usher in a twenty-first Century air transport network which will serve as a key enabler of local economic vitality and sustainable development by optimizing global connectivity and this role and responsibility are directly consistent with the Chicago Convention which established ICAO, and a great testa...

Global cyber crime costs the world US $110 billion annually. The Economist of 4 November 2014 speaks of “cyberjacking”—a phenomenon that refers to the equivalent of hijacking an aircraft with the use of cyber technology. This could happen from outside the aircraft or from the inside. The catalyst in this instance is the increasing popularity with p...

The Fifth Assessment Report of the Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change advised that in 2010, 14% of all greenhouse gas emissions was from the transport sector. Aviation produces around 2% of the world’s manmade emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) which, according to the IPCC, will rise to 3% by 2050 if not checked. The air transport sector is...

The air transport industry is showing a curious dichotomy. On the one hand, it is claimed that 2017 was the safest year for air transport, with no fatalities. On the other hand, incidents of unruly and disruptive behaviour in the aircraft cabin as well as in the airport terminal seemed to increase. IATA reports that in 2016 the rate unruly behaviou...

During the first half of 2018, ICAO released Circular 352—Guidelines for Training Cabin Crew on Identifying and Responding to Trafficking in Persons—containing guidelines calculated to enable members of cabin crews and other transportation personnel to identify possible victims of trafficking and respond to their plight. The Circular was a joint re...

United Nations Security Council Resolution 2396 of 2017 expressed inter alia concern that foreign terrorist fighters may use civil aviation both as a means of transportation and as a target, and may use cargo both to target civil aviation and as a means of shipment of materiel, and noted that ICAOs Annex 9 and Annex 17 to Chicago Convention contain...

One of the most disturbing effects of drones on international air transport occurred between 19 and 21 December 2018, when hundreds of flights were cancelled at Gatwick Airport, following eye witness reports of drone sightings close to the runway. The incident caused major travel disruption, affecting about 140,000 passengers and over 1000 flights....

The fundamental principle of State responsibility at international law seems to have been developed both judicially and academically on the premise that an assumption exists that the State is obligated to bear responsibility for harm caused in its territory no matter who caused the harm, based on the argument that the State failed to prevent the ha...

The focus of ICAO has, for the past decades, been on ensuring safety and security of aviation and adopting effective, independent and impartial safety regulation of civil aviation. Therefore, any risks to the safety and security of international civil aviation is considered worthy of attention. Conflicts of interest are viewed as one such risk. In...

Many things happen on board cruise liners and aircraft that can be traced to liability of the carrier. In maritime transport there have been reports of outbreaks of food poisoning, legionnaires’ disease, injuries, sexual assault, and even murder on board cruise ships. An accident which caught the attention of the world was when 32 people died after...

After 70 years of not being involved in the affairs of cabin crew; their role in air transport, and the need to issue guidelines pertaining to this significant category of professional, ICAO issued in 2017 its manual on cabin crew requirements. As recognized by ICAO in the Foreword to this manual, cabin crew members play a crucial role in ensuring...

Air transport is a technology intensive and capital-intensive industry. However, at the same time, one must not ignore the fact that it is an industry which is responsible for the safety and security of humans. It is an industry which necessarily involves emotional intelligence and empathy for air passengers. As the previous discussions have shown...

Air transport is growing in exponential terms and affects all States around the world. Air travel will double in 2030 as against today’s figure. It is forecast that, between 2009 and 2028 there will be a demand for 24,951 passenger and freighter aircraft worth USD 3.1 trillion, and that, by 2028 there will be 32,000 aircraft in service compared wit...

ICAO has its genesis in the Chicago Convention which was in turn the result of the Chicago Conference which took place in November/December 1944. Therefore, ICAO came into being (at least on paper, as ICAO started functioning as an international Organization in April 1947) before the United Nations which gave ICAO its legal legitimacy as a speciali...

The Agenda of items in the Work Programme of the Legal Committee of ICAO for its thirtyseventh session comprised: Study of legal issues relating to remotely piloted aircraft; Consideration of guidance on conflicts of interest; Acts or offences of concern to the international aviation community and not covered by existing air law instruments; Consid...

Air transport in India is at the cusp of an unstoppable forward march towards reaching eminence in the aviation industry in the years to come. Although the turn towards liberalization of air transport came in 1990 with an open skies approach, the industry was beleaguered with restrictions on foreign investment, stringent regulation imposed on burge...