New secretary general for ICAO

The President of the ICAO Council, Salvatore Sciacchitano (left), with the Secretary General of ICAO, Juan Carlos Salazar.

He assumes this role as CEO of the UN’s specialised agency for civil aviation as the international flight network continues to assure the efficient global movement of food, vaccines, e-commerce, and other essential supplies and personnel, despite the air transport industry still being severely confronted by COVID-19, greatly diminished routes, and slowly rebounding international air travel and tourism.

“It is a great honour to be assuming this role at this time, and to have the opportunity to help governments and ICAO play an important part in how this sector builds back better and recovers from the global pandemic,” Salazar commented. “We are still facing some tremendous challenges to the restoration of global air connectivity today, and with many regions and populations all over the world facing prolonged economic, social, and emotional hardship as a result.”

Salazar is a former Director General of Civil Aviation for Colombia, and speaks fluent Spanish, English, French, and basic Arabic. He has more than 26 years of experience in civil aviation, public policy, and the management of large and complex organizations, and plans to work closely with the ICAO Council to further strengthen the agency’s governance and ethical framework, to review the organisational structure of the Secretariat, to build a digital transformation programme, and to modernise the working methods of the Organisation to keep pace with aviation innovation.