After 28 years, India to chair key air transport panel

India in ICAO, tweeted, “India wins the coveted position in ICAO to become- Chairperson of Air Transport Committee, after 28years. Representative of India, Dr Shefali Juneja gets unanimously elected in Council today.⁦@MoCA_GoI⁩ ⁦@JM_Scindia⁩ ⁦@DGCAIndia⁩ ⁦@icao⁩ ⁦@HCI_Ottawa,’ the tweet read.

Dr Shefali Juneja on Monday was named the chairperson of the Air Transport Committee (ATC) of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, becoming the first Indian in 28 years to do so.

Dr Shefali Juneja was named chairperson of Air Transport Committee (ATC) of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) (REUTERS)

Congratulating Dr Juneja, Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted, “Great News! This solidifies India’s position in the global #aviation ecosystem and strengthens our journey towards becoming the largest #civilaviation market. Congratulations, Dr Shefali Juneja & @MoCA_GoI team for your commitment & hard work.”

India in ICAO, tweeted, “India wins the coveted position in ICAO to become- Chairperson of Air Transport Committee, after 28years. Representative of India, Dr Shefali Juneja gets unanimously elected in Council today.⁦@MoCA_GoI⁩ ⁦@JM_Scindia⁩ ⁦@DGCAIndia⁩ ⁦@icao⁩ ⁦@HCI_Ottawa,’ the tweet read.

Ministry officials said that India will be chairing the important committee after 28 years and has had the opportunity of chairing the ATC only twice so far.

“This committee handles a big component of ICAO work relating to air transport as nine technical panels report to it. It is therefore a tremendous opportunity to steer issues in the policy arena and deal with new emerging challenges to carve out a better future for international air transport,” Dr Juneja told HT.

According to Article 54 d) of the Chicago Convention, the Council appoints and defines the duties of an ATC, which is chosen from among the representatives of the members of the Council.

The ATC is the advisory body of the Council on air transport matters as specified in the Convention and on any other issues affecting air transport referred to it by the Council or on its behalf by the President.

In September last year, Juneja was elected as the chairperson of the ICAO’S Aviation Security Committee (ASC) and made an Indian taking charge of the position after a gap of 12 years. Juneja has been serving as India’s representative in the council of the ICAO since 2019.

Juneja, a 1992 batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre), served as the joint secretary in the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) before joining the ICAO.