Date
On Friday, July 1st, 2022, a scheduled meeting of the heads of the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority and the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, took place at the HCAA premises at Athens International Airport.
In particular, following an invitation addressed last May to the EUR NAT meeting in Paris by the HCAA Governor, Dr. Christos Tsitouras to ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar, both the SG and the Director of the ICAO Regional Office in Paris, Nicolas Rallo, visited the HCAA in the context of the policy of extroversion that the Authority has been following since its inception.
The dignitaries arrived at the HCAA offices, where a series of closed meetings were held under the coordination of the HCAA Governor.
The individual meetings were attended by the HCAA Executive Board, the Authority's Management staff, the Governor of the HASP (Hellenic Aviation Service Provider), Mr. George Dritsakos, as well as industry top officials – from air operators and aerodrome operators.
This was followed by a working lunch at the Acropolis area under the coordination of the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Kostas Ach. Karamanlis, and with the participation of the General Secretary of Transport, Ioannis Xifaras, during which the heads of the International Organization congratulated the Minister for his important reform work and laid the foundations for future cooperation in the field of aviation safety.
The meeting ended with a tour of the Acropolis Museum for the guests since the Secretary General visited our country for the first time.
At the center of a total of seven (7) meetings that took place during the day, the HCAA Governor and the representatives of the ICAO, it was emphasized on all sides, as a key priority of the head of the ICAO, the provision of all kinds of support to Greece in the important reform change for the separation of Regulator and Provider.
In this context, the ICAO Secretary General and the HCAA Governor, in implementation of the Management Service Agreement, MSA, signed in Paris in May 2022 for the provision of technical assistance by ICAO to the HCAA, signed implementation agreement of the M.S.A. which specializes in the sectors and specialties that will support the HCAA in its inspection work, by transferring international know-how to the Authority. It is emphasized that the ICAO is the global inspection authority that oversees the proper observance of the Policies and Recommendations in the field of Civil Aviation that have been adopted by all countries worldwide.
Respectively, the HASP Governor and the heads of the other providers who participated in the meetings highlighted the importance of ICAO's assistance in creating a strong Regulator that oversees cutting-edge issues such as safety and the environment, but also in providing every support to Hellenic civil aviation in terms of safety, protection of the environment and the effectiveness of services.
