The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) High-level Conference on COVID-19 (HLCC 2021) opened at 8:00 pm on October 12 (Beijing Time). Feng Zhenglin, Administrator of CAAC, and Hu Zhenjiang, Deputy Administrator of CAAC, attended the opening ceremony in Beijing.

On October 13, Feng Zhenglin delivered a keynote speech at Round Table II and put forward four proposals: first, continuing to support ICAO’s leadership role; second, striking the best balance between COVID-19 prevention and control and industrial recovery; third, ensuring aviation safety, and fourth, seizing the opportunity for innovation. Hu Zhenjiang, Deputy Administrator of CAAC, also attended Round Table II.

Feng Zhenglin said in his speech that as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to rage across the world, ICAO held this conference to explore how the global aviation industry can overcome the impact of COVID-19 so as to realize recovery and growth, and to lay the foundation for the sustainable development of the industry in the post-COVID-19 era, which will be a milestone of great significance in the history of global aviation. To make the industry recovery, China has taken a series of measures, including adjusting in a timely manner the number of domestic and international passenger flights according to the situation of COVID-19, establishing a “green channel” for international air cargo services to ensure air connectivity, rapidly issuing and constantly updating a series of industry guidance documents such as the Preventing the Spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Guideline for Airports and the Preventing the Spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Guideline for Airlines, and developing a package of policies to help enterprises bail out. Meanwhile, China’s civil aviation strictly safeguarded the bottom line of safety, in order to ensure the aviation safety and security standards during the pandemic. In addition, CAAC enhanced international cooperation in the fight against COVID-19, actively participated in the work of the ICAO CART and the Asia-Pacific framework, and share the experience of the epidemic prevention and control of China’s civil aviation with other countries.

Mr. Salvatore Sciacchitano, President of the Council, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. He noted that the global aviation is faced with serious challenges posed by COVID-19. To overcome the difficulties, all countries need closer cooperation, as well as more innovations and changes to work together to seek the recovery and development of global aviation industry. Mr. Juan Carlos Salazar, the Secretary General of ICAO, briefed the audience on the latest developments of and challenged faced by the aviation industry.

The HLCC 2021, scheduled to close on 22 October, is divided into Round Tables I and II and meetings on safety and facilitation. Heads of relevant departments of the CAAC and relevant ministries attended the opening ceremony and Round Tables I and II.