THE POSTAL HISTORY OF ICAO

 

The Regional Offices and the Regional Organization

 

Among the notable achievements of PICAO, and later ICAO, as an international organization, its regional organization has demonstrated to be an essential machinery countering any thread of isolationism such as that occurred soon after the First World War, when it had to carry devotion to a one-world concept of cooperation for setting international standards and regulations in civil aviation among its member states.

 

Even though a regional dimension of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was not called for specifically in the Chicago Convention, from the very beginning of PICAO’s work, it became quickly clear that some of the technical problems and navigational requirements confronting international civil aviation could be best solved on a regional basis among those states concerned in a given region. Recognizing the regional differences, the Provisional International Civil Aviation (PICAO) divided the world into ten flying or air navigation regions (the boundaries of which roughly coincided with the continental and oceanic masses) during the first Session of the Committee on Air Navigation held from 2 October 1945 to 27 November 1945 and the second Session of the Interim Council held from 15 October to 30 November 1945; in each of these regions, a regional office might be established. Regional arrangements or special regional organizations, called Regional Route Service Organizations (RRSO; from 3 April 1946, renamed Regional Air Navigation Meetings, RAN, as the original name presented difficulties of translation into other languages), would be necessary to plan special measures of cooperation on air navigation facilities, to consider the application and interpretation of standards and practices to meet situations particular to a given geographical area, and to study and develop local operating practices supplementing the international standards. The 10 original regions included the North Atlantic, European-Mediterranean, Middle East, Caribbean, South-East Asia, South Atlantic, South Pacific, North Pacific, South America and African-Indian Ocean. Regional Route Service Conferences, later called Regional Air Navigation (RAN) meetings, would be held in each separate region or in areas that covered multiple regions.

 

St Patrick’s Hall, Dublin Castle March 1946 First Regional Route Service Conference

Due to the existence of military facilities useful for international civil aviation and their probable discontinuance due to the cessation of the war hostilities, early coordinating actions were considered desirable and necessary for four of the ten regions: the North Atlantic, European-Mediterranean area, the Caribbean area, and the Near and Middle East. Because of the drastic curtailment of military air transport services in the North Atlantic, the first regional meeting to be held under the aegis of PICAO was the North Atlantic Route Service Conference which met in St Patrick’s Hall of Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland, on 4 March 1946 and set the pattern for future gatherings of this kind.

 

St Patrick’s Hall is an important state room and the fact that the conference was held there was significant; it was the first conference of its type to be held in Dublin after the Second World War and it was quite a gathering. A state reception and a state dinner were held for the delegates while they were in Ireland; they were invited to see a performance of The Rising of the Moon by Lady Gregory at the Abbey Theatre. They met with the then President, Seán O’Kelly, and they went to visit Glendalough, a beautiful medieval monastic 6th-century settlement located in Co. Wicklow.

 

The second meeting was convened in April 1946 in Paris at the request of France. Although Cuba would have been the ideal choice for the Caribbean meeting, this State was not yet a member of ICAO; the third meeting was therefore convened in Washington, DC, in August 1946. As regards the first meeting in the Middle East (MID), many factors were taken into consideration to choose Egypt, i.e., the strategic position of that country in relation to Europe, Africa and Asia, the international position of Egypt from the standpoint of air transportation demonstrated by the fact that many regular air routes passed over its territory, and the experience of the Egyptian authorities in international air transport operations in the Middle East. More information on the first regional meetings can be found by clicking on the following link: 1946: PICAO’s First Regional Air Navigation Meetings. The philatelic material issued for the Regional Air Navigation (RAN) Meetings is described in separate chapters of the ICAO Postal History.

 

Five RAN meetings were held during PICAO’s years, which created a Route Service or Regional Air Navigation Manual helping the implementation of the Standards and Recommended Practices. A regional office was usually established after a regional air navigation meeting being held in that region to compile and edit regional manuals, to act as a clearing house for correspondence and information, and to organize and serve as a secretariat for the regional meetings; at the time ICAO replaced the Provisional Organization in 1947, there were offices in:

1.    Paris for the European-Mediterranean Region (opened on 12 August 1946 and located in the accommodation occupied by ICAN, 60 bis avenue d’Iéna. This seems to demonstrate certain continuity, at least as far as organizational measures in international civil aviation are concerned);

2.    Dublin for the North Atlantic Region (opened on 1 January 1947). The Council decided early in February 1948 to close this office, as there were no longer technical grounds for its continuance.

3.    Cairo for the Middle East Region (opened on 20 January 1947);

4.    Melbourne for the Far East and Pacific Region (a temporary mission was first maintained in Melbourne from in February 1947 and was later in 1948 converted into an interim Office located at the Almora House, 522-536 Little Collins Street), to assist in and co-ordinate the execution of the plans agreed upon at the South Pacific Regional Meeting; and

5.    Montréal: the duties of the North American Office were carried out by the Air Navigation Bureau (ANB) at Headquarters.

In every case, however, the establishment of the regional offices was to be regarded as provisional.

 

On the recommendation of the First Assembly of ICAO (May 1947, Resolution A1-16), the Council reviewed the system of ICAO representation to States; it was decided in 1948 that increased efficiency and economy would result if the number of ICAO regional offices did not exceed five, each of them to be responsible for two of ICAO’s ten navigation regions. The new system in no way prejudiced the continued recognition and use of these air navigation regions, but changed the basis of ICAO representation from regional to territorial. Instead of a possible ten offices, there would be five: North American, South American, European and African, Middle East, and Far East and Pacific. The Paris Office was thus renamed European and African Office.

 

To avoid duplication and overlapping, only one ICAO field office would normally maintain liaison with each Contracting State, with effect from 1 May 1948; States with dependent territories could adopt a liberal attitude towards the establishment of direct relations between these territories and the nearest ICAO office, but they might, if they wish, require that liaison with their overseas possessions be maintained by the office accredited to the mother country.

 

The extent to which ICAO regional offices could be associated with regional offices of the United Nations would depend largely upon the location of the latter and the facilities which they would have. The ICAO offices, being purely technical extensions of ICAO Headquarters with limited staff, would hardly be in a position to assist other organizations; on the other hand, a regional office or information centre of the United Nations, especially if located in the same city as an ICAO branch office, could offer ICAO the use of valuable administrative facilities.

 

Upon an invitation from the Peruvian government to act as host country, the first Regional Air Navigation (RAN) Meeting for South America was held from 17 June to 7 July 1947 in Lima, Peru, at the facilities of the Collique airport. Following other regional meetings precedents, this RAN Meeting requested the creation of an ICAO Regional Office for South America. The ICAO Council, after having analyzed the various offers received from States in the SAM Region, decided to establish the headquarters of the Regional Office in Lima, Peru, due to its geographical location and to the terms offered by the Peruvian government for the establishment and operation of the Office. Further to the signing of the agreement between Peru and ICAO on 22 October 1948, the SAM Regional Office was established in November 1948, with the mission to provide assistance to all South American States.

 

Within ANB, a new post of Chief, Regional Organization (later renamed Regional Affairs) was created in 1948 with the responsibility of the administration, direction and coordination of the work of the regional offices; a section of this new office functioned as the North American Office. The ICAO Council having decided during its Third Session in February 1948 that there were no technical grounds for the continuance of the Dublin Office, arrangements were made to transfer its responsibilities to the Paris Office. In 1948, the existing South Pacific Mission at Melbourne was converted into an interim Far East and Pacific Office, with the understanding that the question of its permanent site be raised later.

 

The ten air navigation regions were reduced to eight during the 16^th Session of the ICAO Council held from 15 May to 15 July 1952, first by amalgamation of the North and South Pacific regions into a single-Pacific region, and then by uniting the South American and South Atlantic, retaining the name of the former.

 

Five Regional Offices as of 1955: Bangkok, Cairo, Lima, Montréal and Paris.

On 28 October 1952 during its Seventeenth Session, the ICAO Council authorized the moving of the Far-East and Pacific Office from Melbourne to a site on the main land of Asia, closer to the centre of activities of the area which it served, i.e., Bangkok, Kingdom of Thailand. This office started functioning from there with effect from 3 January 1955. After spending a short time in ‘Sala Santitham’ and a transit accommodation, the Asia and Pacific Office moved to its present location (on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road, Chatuchak, Bangkok) in June 1986.

 

In 1956, it was decided that the North American and Caribbean Regional Office be separated from the Regional Affairs Office in ANB and established as a separate entity in Mexico City; this transfer became effective on 15 February 1957. Thus, at that time, five Regional Offices existed in five different cities over the world, i.e., Bangkok, Cairo, Lima, Mexico, and Paris.

 

In 1960-1962, new countries were created by decolonization in Africa and 23 new States joined ICAO in just three years. As a consequence, a sixth Regional Office began functioning in 1963 in Dakar, Senegal for the African States (most of the countries in Africa were previously served by the European and Middle East Offices) and was fully operational on 1 December of the same year. 

 

A need for a further revision of the regional structure was expressed at the 14^th Session (held in Rome in 1962; Resolution A14-20) and the 15^th Session (held in Montréal in 1965; Resolution A15-11) of the ICAO Assembly, which directed the Council to undertake a study of the regional structure in the light of existing and future developments, and to overcome certain problems such as those posed by the overlapping of the regions and by the non-inclusion of certain areas. The results of the Council's study confirmed that planning on an area basis should continue and that the concept of dividing the world into air navigation regions should be retained, but mainly to provide a starting point in establishing the geographical area to be considered by a particular regional air navigation (RAN) meeting, and to serve as a basis for the distribution over a series of air navigation plan publications of all planned facilities and services resulting from the regional planning processes. The resulting regional structure comprised at that time the following eight regions: African (AFI); Asia-Pacific (ASIA/PAC); Caribbean (CAR); European (EUR); Middle East (MID); North-American (NAM); North-Atlantic (NAT); and South-American (SAM). The names of these regions were occasionally revised over the past years.

 

The EUR Office, which took over the offices of ICAN’s Secretariat (International Commission for Air Navigation) at 60 bis, avenue d'Iéna, Paris, moved to 3 bis villa Émile-Bergerat, Neuilly-sur-Seine, in October 1965.

 

On 27 May 1969 during its Sixty-seventh Session, the ICAO Council approved the transfer of the Headquarters Regional Affairs Office and the then six Regional Offices from the office of the Director of the Air Navigation Bureau to the Secretary General’s Office.

 

At the beginning of 1982, the ICAO Secretary General visited Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda. These States had indicated their willingness to become the host State for the establishment of the new regional office in Eastern Africa. The Secretary General’s findings and recommendations were submitted to the Council during its 105^th Session and, on 29 March 1982, the Council selected Nairobi, Kenya as the site of the Eastern African regional office, subject to the conclusion of satisfactory arrangements with the Government of Kenya in respect of office accommodation, other essential facilities and the granting of customary privileges and immunities. Inaugurated on 1 December 1983, the seventh regional office was established in Nairobi, assuming the responsibilities for Eastern Africa, returning thus Cairo to its original function as the Middle East Office; the Nairobi office is located at the UN Office at Gigiri, United Nations Avenue, off-Limuru Road. Later in the 1980s, the Nairobi office became the Eastern and Southern African Office and the one in Dakar was renamed the Western and Central African Office. All the activity of the regional offices is currently coordinated through the Regional Affairs Office at headquarters.

 

The APAC Regional Office Secretariat was provided at no cost to ICAO in 1989. The premises consist of a three-storey air-conditioned building with the total built-up area of approximately 3,108 square metres. Due to the inadequate conference facilitates accommodating increasing number of participants from Member States, the Government of Thailand had kindly provided a new conference facility adjacent to the Regional Office. The new conference facilities which was named “The Kotaite Wing of the Asia and Pacific Office” by the Royal Thai Government in recognition of the contribution to the development of international civil aviation by Dr. Assad Kotaite, President of the ICAO Council, was inaugurated on 15 January 2004.

 

 

In 2006, the Government of Peru offered ICAO a more strategic location in San Isidro, Lima providing better access to the city. The SAM Office is accredited to all South American States and encompasses the entire geographic area between Panama and Antarctica, including major portions of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

 

To commemorate the 60th anniversary of its establishment, the Asia and Pacific Office organized a photograph exhibition on 13 and 14 July 2009 in its office premises, depicting sixty years of progress of civil aviation in the region. A special emblem was developed on this occasion.

 

Names and responsibilities of ICAO’s regional offices changed over the years and in 2013 the seven regional offices were as follows:

1. Asia and Pacific Office, in Bangkok (renamed in 1980);
2. Eastern and Southern African Office, in Nairobi;
3. European and North Atlantic Office, in Paris;
4. Middle East Office, in Cairo;
5. North American, Central American and Caribbean Office, in Mexico City;
6. South American Office, in Lima; and
7. Western and Central African Office, in Dakar.

 

Emblem designed for the 60th anniversary of the APAC Office.

As the Asia Pacific (APAC) Region represented one of the fastest growing aviation markets, the ICAO Council, during its 194^th Session on 14 November 2011, agreed to establish a Regional Sub-Office (RSO) in this region, with the objective to enhance support to States in the region. It would have the mandate to improve airspace organization and management to maximize air traffic management (ATM) performance across the APAC Region; the new RSO complements the ongoing work and higher-level regional coordination already established through ICAO’s Asia and Pacific Regional Office in Bangkok, Thailand. Four States had indicated their willingness to host that Sub-office: China, India, Republic of Korea, and Singapore. During its 197^th on 5 November 2012, the Council endorsed the Secretary General’s recommendation that the APAC Regional Sub-Office be established in China; it was inaugurated at Beijing on 27 June 2013.  The advanced Beijing facility responds directly to the need for increased resources and the establishment of performance-driven success criteria, directly related to meeting the Asia/Pacific region’s projected ATM and capacity challenges; this Sub-Office is hosted in Beijing by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). It will also benefit tremendously from the knowledge and experience gained through ICAO’s Asia/Pacific Flight Procedure Programme Office, which was also located in Beijing. The Host State Agreement (HSA) with the Government of the People’s Republic of China for the ICAO Asia Pacific Regional Sub-Office was signed on 27 June 2013. The HSA sets out the arrangements for the premises and facilities that are provided by the Host State and privileges and immunities of ICAO. On 20 December 2013, ICAO and China signed the Supplementary Agreement regarding financial and administrative arrangements for Asia Pacific Regional Sub-Office.

 

Emblem designed for the 70th anniversary of the EUR/NAT Office.

Top officials from the International Civil Aviation Organization and Civil Aviation Authorities from the European and North Atlantic Regions of ICAO as well as from primary aviation International Organizations gathered together to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the ICAO European and North Atlantic Office on 7 July 2016. The ceremony was attended by the President of the ICAO Council, Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, and the Secretary General of ICAO, Dr. Fang Liu, whose presence highlighted the importance of the outcomes and the proposals put forward during the meeting. Many speakers and participants highlighted the outstanding contributions from the ICAO Paris Office to the enhancement of Safety, Security and Efficiency, even at the global level. A special emblem was developed on this occasion.

 

On 22 February 2017 at Mexico, at a special anniversary ceremony celebrating the founding of ICAO’s North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACC) Regional Office 60 years earlier, Dr. Fang Liu, ICAO’s Secretary General, remarked that the UN agency’s team in Mexico City will continue to make crucial contributions to the development of regional air connectivity over the coming decades; in fact, the NACC Regional Office is pivotal to the effective coordination of safe, secure and reliable air services, especially in light of the fact that that region was responsible for more than 25% of international traffic. Among other celebrations commemorating the 60^th anniversary of NACC Office’s establishment in 1957, a stamp and a related first day cover were issued on 7 December 2017. See more details about this philatelic issue at: Mexico: 60th Anniversary of the NACC Regional Office.

 

On 6 and 7 December 2018, ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu joined ICAO South American (SAM) Regional Office Director Fabio Rabbani and his team for a series of lively events and ceremonies aimed at commemorating the SAM Office’s landmark 70th Anniversary in Lima, Peru. The SAM Office was established in Lima, Peru in November 1948, and is accredited to all South American States. It encompasses the entire geographic area between Panama and Antarctica, including major portions of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. To celebrate the Office’s seven illustrious decades of work in forging consensus on ICAO’s global harmonization priorities among SAM Region States, and to thank Peru for the incredible support and generosity relevant to its hosting. Dr. Liu, with the First Council Vice President and some Council Representatives, were pleased to attend a number of SAM70 activities coinciding with International Civil Aviation Day on 7 December 2018. These included the presentation of a new commemorative stamp unveiled by Peru on that day (see picture here below). See more details about this philatelic issue at: Peru : 70th Anniversary of the SAM Regional Office.

 

The first meeting of the European Aviation System Planning Group (EASPG), which merged the former European Air Navigation Planning Group (EANPG) and the European Regional Aviation Safety Group (RASG-EUR), took place from 2 to 5 December 2019 at the ICAO EUR/NAT Office in Paris, France. This is a new beginning in the ICAO EUR working structure. The intent is to improve coordination between air navigation and aviation safety-related activities, enabling an aviation system-level approach to managing safety and leading to enhanced efficiency and synergies.

 

The North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACC) Office commemorated the 65th anniversary of its establishment on 15 February 2022 and released a specially designed emblem on this occasion (see at left). It was designed by Claudia López, Technical Cooperation Associate & Assistant to the Deputy Regional Director, ICAO NACC Regional Office.

 

In June 2023, a mission to Beijing and Shanghai, China, conducted by ICAO Secretary General, Mr. Juan Carlos Salazar, coincided with the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the Organization’s Asia and Pacific Regional Sub-Office (APAC-RSO) located in Beijing, China. The event served as a platform to extend gratitude to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) for graciously hosting the APAC RSO since its establishment on 27 June 2013. Mr. Salazar expressed deep appreciation for China’s unwavering support, both in terms of human resources and financial backing, which has been instrumental in the Office’s success. The APAC RSO stands as a valuable complement to the APAC Regional Office based in Bangkok, Thailand.

On this occasion, the ICAO Secretary General and Mr. Song, the Administrator of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), signed the renewal of the Supplementary Agreement between ICAO and CAAC; this agreement solidifies the financial and administrative arrangements for the Asia and Pacific Regional Sub-office, signifying China’s unwavering commitment to bolstering the operations of the APAC RSO.

 

Emblem designed for the 10th anniversary of the APAC RSO in June 2023.

In August 2023, ICAO has taken a major step to improve its engagement and support for Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) with the appointment of a new Liaison Officer. The new position responds to the Ministerial Port Moresby Declaration on Aviation Safety and Security of 2021, the Pacific Regional Aviation Strategy (2022-2032) adopted by countries at the UN agency’s 41^st Assembly last October, and has been realized in collaboration with the Pacific Aviation Safety Office (PASO) and essential financial support from the government of Singapore. The new ICAO Pacific Liaison Officer reporting to the ICAO Asia Pacific (APAC) Office Regional Director, began assuming preliminary duties on 1 August 2023, and is expected to report to the new office premises in Nadi, hosted by the Government of Fiji, later in 2023. The Pacific Liaison Officer will serve as the key coordination point on civil aviation development matters among the PSIDS themselves, ICAO’s APAC Regional Office and Capacity Development and Implementation bureau, and applicable regional and international organizations, including PASO.

 

At the invitation of the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation, ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar participated in a celebration on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Egypt’s hosting of ICAO’s Middle East Regional Office in Cairo. The Secretary General’s mission to Egypt took place from 17 to 18 November 2023. Egypt’s Minister of Civil Aviation, H.E. Air Marshal Mohamed Abbas Helmy, and the Secretary General emphasized the significance of Egypt’s strong relationship with ICAO, particularly in terms of cooperation in achieving progress towards international civil aviation’s strategic objectives, and highlighted the importance of identifying opportunities for heightening this collaboration. Mr. Salazar also expressed his profound appreciation to the Government of Egypt for hosting ICAO’s MID Regional Office for the past seven decades. During the Secretary General’s mission, a new technical support agreement to restructure and design Egyptian airspace was concluded.

 

The regional organization in existence within the framework of ICAO helped and still helps to strengthen the centralized efforts towards practical international cooperation. Although never very large in terms of staff and under the supervision of the Headquarters, the regional offices play an important role in helping ICAO Member States implement the Organization’s standards and procedures and acting as a kind of information liaison between local governments (i.e., civil aviation officials) and the headquarters. Each office is staffed by administrative personnel and aviation experts in a wide variety of technical areas. In addition to holding seminars and workshops to discuss regional issues, the regional offices produce regional navigational plans which have become the main vehicle for the achievement of standardization in a region. ICAO’s seven Regional Offices help to provide support and coordination for Member States to improve:

1.    Air Navigation Functions, including, assisting, expediting and following up of action by States to implement regional plans and regional supplementary procedures, and implement ICAO Standards, Recommended Practices and procedures.

2.    Air Transport Functions, including States and international organizations of ICAO air transport policies and activities, and encouraging States to file statistics, to implement Annex 9 on facilitation, to submit replies to economic study questionnaires and to submit data for revision of the Manual of Airport and Air Navigation Facility Tariffs (Doc 7100).

3.    Regional Bodies were established, close co-operation with the regional bodies: African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), Latin American Civil Aviation Commission (LACAC), and co-ordination of interrelated work programmes to avoid duplication of effort and to ensure harmony in the development of the international air transport system as a whole.

4.    Technical Co-operation Functions, including the Regional Scholarship Programme and assistance in investigating fellowship applications; provision of advice on programming, including co-ordination within the region of requests for regional projects; briefing of newly recruited Technical Co-operation experts.

5.    Legal functions, obtaining current copies of air laws and regulations, as well as information on contemplated air legislation and regulations, from Contracting States; obtaining, on request, judicial information relating to aviation matters.

6.    Aviation Security, encouraging, assisting, expediting, monitoring and following up all aspects of aviation security in accordance with ICAO policy, Standards, Recommended Practices and procedures.

7.    General efforts that include, reporting on the implementation by States of Assembly and Council Resolutions regarding aviation security; reporting on aviation accidents and incidents to enable follow-up action by ICAO as may be required; the distribution of ICAO publications and documents in accordance with Headquarters policy; the holding of meetings at regional office locations, or other appropriate locations within the areas of general responsibility, the participation in press, television and radio interviews and the provision of lectures on ICAO activities; the follow-up with Contracting States, as required, on the collection of contributions and the attendance at meetings of other international organizations.

 

 

PICAO Route Service Organizations

 

Eight current Air Navigation Regions.

For air navigation purposes, ICAO Member States are grouped by air navigation region.

Some states may have flight information regions in multiple regions.

 

Commercial cover sent from the Republic of Korea to the Chief, Regional Affairs Office.

Postmarked on 11 December 1998.

 

 

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