Last summer, the International Civil Aviation Organization made waves when they elected the first woman—and the first Chinese national—to lead the United Nations’ aviation body. In August of 2015, Dr. Fang Liu began her three-year term as the Secretary General for the United Nations’ ICAO.
As the Secretary General of ICAO, Dr. Liu is responsible for providing leadership to a specialized international staff working in the field of international civil aviation. She takes on the role at a sensitive time for the agency, as it’s currently under pressure to improve safety in the airline industry after the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, and the downing of another Malaysian airliner in the Ukraine.
Soon after Liu took over as Secretary General in 2015, she spearheaded ICAO’s first-ever Global Aviation Partnerships on Emissions Reductions (E-GAP) Seminar, focusing on aircraft recycling and end-of-life best practices. With hundreds of aircraft globally being withdrawn from active service each year, increased attention is now being paid to recycling concerns and how manufacturers can incorporate related considerations during the design stage for future aircraft.
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”Cooperation, partnerships and innovation are key to aviation’s success in limiting its environmental impacts, and to the eventual realization of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nation’s Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda which will be adopted next week,” Dr. Liu said. “ICAO’s Member States have already agreed to a global aspirational goal of improving fuel efficiency by two per cent per year, and to stabilize sector-wide CO2 emissions at 2020 levels, and new partners and ideas are very welcome where our efforts to achieve environmentally sustainable aviation are concerned.”
ICAO also launched a new aircraft tracking website soon after Liu’s election, providing a detailed timeline and all supporting reports and documentation relating to the call for and realization of the world’s first global aircraft tracking requirements, according to ICAO’s website.
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In April 2016, Liu stressed the link between business aviation growth and global development, noting that underdeveloped regions, specifically remote islands, can benefit greatly from the improved global connectivity that private aircraft can bring.
Liu has made worldwide news with her election and the steps she’s taken to make our skies safer, but her résumé was already impressive before taking over as Secretary General, having served as the Director of ICAO’s Bureau of Administration and Services prior to being elected. She also held the positions of Legal Counsel, Deputy Director, Director and Deputy Director General of Department of International Affairs and Cooperation for the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC). At CAAC, she served as chief negotiator for the Chinese government for bilateral and multilateral air transport agreements with foreign countries. Dr. Liu holds a PhD in international law from Wuhan University in China and a Master’s in air and space law from Leiden University in the Netherlands.
To learn more about ICAO and the steps Dr. Liu is taking to improve international aviation, visit ICAO’s online newsroom by clicking here. To learn more about increasing the number of female leaders in aviation by joining the International Aviation Womens Association, a group that benefits from Dr. Liu’s honorary board membership, please directly contact VP of Industry for Business Aviation and Helicopters, Charlie Bravo Aviation’s CEO René Banglesdorf.