GAMA Welcomes The Move Taken By Transportation Ministers At APEC Meeting In Tokyo

At the conclusion of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Tokyo Wednesday, Transport Ministers of the group's 21 member economies endorsed a set of core principles to facilitate business aviation operations.

"In accordance with these principles, business aviation can connect major Asia-Pacific centers of trade in an unprecedented, time-saving manner. These principles serve to open the door to global commerce for smaller communities and rural populations across the region that require access to major cities and manufacturing centers," the Ministers said in a statement at the conclusion of the meeting.

For the purpose of the statement, the term ‘business aviation’ refers to the non-commercial use of aviation to facilitate and conduct business.

The APEC Economies reached consensus on the following core principles:

• “Business aviation operations should be treated, from an economic regulatory standpoint, as non-commercial, not-for-hire aviation.  As such, they may have the freedom to fly within and between any points in all Economies, in accordance with an Economy’s applicable requirements.”
• “Any operating permissions for business aviation operations should be considered and acted upon in a timeframe suitable to their operational needs.”
• “Consistent with ICAO standards and recommended practices, all governmental entities, e.g. customs, immigration, security, safety, etc., with jurisdiction over business aviation operations ought to recognize and treat these operations as part of non-commercial aviation.”

The ministers stressed in their statement that the principles are non-binding.

Hailing the APEC Ministers' statement, GAMA President and CEO Pete Bunce stated, "Transport Ministers In the Asia Pacific region, the region with the world's strongest economic growth, have given the go-ahead for their governments to develop regulations and policies to establish a regulatory environment that will allow business aviation to fully take advantage of its flexibility and diversity and contribute to the achievement of APEC's key objectives of enhancing trade and investment among its member economies."

GAMA said in a news release that it has been a strong supporter of this APEC initiative when it was launched in September 2011 and has provided, together with global operators’ associations, technical advice to the APEC working group that developed the core principles over the past two years. "The Asia Pacific region has more than doubled its market share of annual business aircraft deliveries between 2007 and 2012,” noted Bunce (pictured). "This strong growth is proof that economies in this region recognize that business aviation is not only a productivity tool for business but also helps countries achieve their economic and regional development objectives.

"With these core principles now endorsed at the highest level, the work must begin to implement them across the region."

Recognizing the paramount importance of operational flexibility, the principles recognize business aviation operators’ freedom to fly within the region, urge economies to facilitate the process of obtaining necessary permits in a timely manner and encourage authorities to treat non-commercial business aviation operators appropriately, i.e., as private operators.

FMI: www.mlit.go.jp/common/001010231.pdf