Aerospace CEOs Discuss Joint Approach to Environment, Air Traffic Management, and Other Key Issues

PARIS, June 21, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Industry leaders from the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) and the Aerospace Industries Association of America (AIA) reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate on a wide variety of issues during an annual meeting at the 2011 Paris Airshow.

"Aircraft manufacturers are very serious about reducing aviation's environmental impacts," Jim Albaugh, Chairman of the Board of Governors of AIA and President and Chief Executive Officer, Boeing Commercial Airplanes said. "We've made remarkable progress on sustainable aviation biofuels and we're working with regulators on a first-ever CO2 efficiency standard for new production aircraft."

AIA and ASD vowed to support ICAO's efforts towards reducing civil aviation CO2 emissions 50 percent compared to 2005 levels by the year 2050.  They affirmed the primacy of such global approaches vs. regional or national market based measures. In support of ongoing collaboration with the global stakeholder community (airlines, airports, and air navigation service providers), both American and European manufacturers agreed to ensure understanding among regulators of the critical role they will play in CO2 reduction.  

Commercially viable, drop-in biofuels will play a large role in CO2 reduction and both groups are working towards that goal with their respective members. "To develop the use of biofuels in aviation, our industry and public authorities need to work hand in hand," Domingo Urena-Raso, President of ASD and CEO of Airbus Military declared. "Incentives should be granted to scale upproduction infrastructures and programmes, and to encourage the use of biofuels by airlines. We also need to increase our investment in research and development in this field," he added. 

Another issue discussed during the CEO Dialogue was air traffic management (ATM) interoperability and modernization. Participants in the meeting agreed that greater efforts and resources from governments would greatly contribute to the achievement of these goals and would yield considerable environmental, economic and efficiency benefits.

CEOs also affirmed the need for global procedures for aircraft operations during volcanic activity just as with other meteorological events.  Absent that, an operator-centric approach focused on avoiding visible ash is necessary.  

Areas of future cooperation will include the preparation of a position paper on common defense industrial base and workforce challenges, the formal launch of the International Forum on Business Ethical Conduct by AIA and ASD, and collaborative efforts to promote export control reforms and limited liability provisions in key markets for manufacturers of homeland security technology.

Industry leaders at the meeting included:

ASD:
Domingo Urena Raso, President of ASD and CEO of Airbus Military
Klaus Eberhardt, President Elect of ASD and CEO of Rheinmetall
Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, Past President of ASD and Chairman of Finmeccanica
Michael von Gizycki, Secretary-General, ASD

AIA:
James F. Albaugh, Chairman of the Board of Governors of AIA and President and Chief Executive Officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes
David P. Hess, Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of AIA and President of Pratt & Whitney, United Technologies Corporation
Scott C. Donnelly, Past Chairman of the Board of Governors of AIA and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Textron Inc.
Marion C. Blakey, President and CEO of AIA

Note to editors:

ASD, AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe, represents the aeronautics, space, and defence industries in Europe. ASD has 28 member associations in 20 European countries, and represents over 2000 companies with a further 80,000 suppliers, many of which are SMEs. www.asd-europe.org 

The European aeronautics, space and defence Industry at a glance:

Founded in 1919, the Aerospace Industries Association represents the nation's leading manufacturers and suppliers of civil, military, and business aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aircraft systems, space systems, aircraft engines, homeland and cybersecurity systems, materiel, related components, equipment services and information technology.

SOURCE Aerospace Industries Association