Number range CHAPTERFEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

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INTERNATIONAL AVIATION SAFETY FORUM

"SAFETY FROM TOP TO BOTTOM"

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GENERAL SESSION

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2006

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Westfields Marriott

17450 Conference Center Drive

Chantilly, Virginia 20151

ROBERT A. STURGELL Deputy Administrator, Federation Aviation
Administration

MARY E. PETERS Secretary, Department of Transportation

MARION C. BLAKEY Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration

ROBERTO KOBEH GONZALEZ President of the Council, International Civil
Aviation Organization

GIOVANNI BISIGNANI Director General and Chief Executive Officer,
International Air Transportation Association

JOSEPH H. BOGOSIAN Assistant Administrator for International Aviation,
Federal Aviation Administration

C-O-N-T-E-N-T-S

AGENDA ITEM PAGE

Welcome

Robert A. Sturgell 3

Mary Peters 8

The Challenge

Marion C. Blakey 16

Keynote Address

Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez 28

The Global Perspective on Aviation Safety

Giovanni Bisignani 42

P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S

8:53 a.m.

MR. STURGELL: Great, good morning, everybody. If I could ask you to take
your seats, we\'ll get started here. Thanks. I\'d like to welcome
everybody to the third annual FAA International Aviation Safety Forum.
For those of you joining us for the first time, it\'s a pleasure to have
you here, and for our repeat performers, thanks for coming back. We\'ve
got a great program lined up.

It\'s a privilege to have so many people here from so many parts of the
world who are committed to making air travel even safer than it is
today. And this International Form would certainly not be possible
without the support from the Air Transport Association, and the
International Air Transport Association. And I\'d also like to thank our
generous corporate sponsors as well, Boeing, Airbus, the National
Business Aircraft Association, American Airlines, Bombardier, FedEx,
General Electric, Honeywell, Southwest Airlines, UPS, Zuchert Scout &
Rasenberger, the Aeronautical Repair Station Association, JetBlue, SAE
International, TDG Aerospace and the Airline Pilots Association. Thanks
very much to all of you for your continued support and for your
commitment to aviation safety. Thanks.

(Applause)

This morning, we are very privileged to have the President of ICAO,
Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez, to deliver the keynote address and also Mr.
Giovanni Bisignani of IATA will provide a global perspective on aviation
safety. This afternoon, I think we\'ve got a real treat at the luncheon.
Elon Musk will be here and he\'s going to talk about the rapidly
evolving space tourism industry. After that concurrent panel sessions
start at 2:30 and we\'ve got a great group of panelists on hand to talk
about such subjects as the safety management system, emerging risks in
airport safety, globalized nature of manufacturing and maintenance and
an issue that we get asked about a lot here in the United States which
is safety and the privatization of air traffic control services.

And also, please don\'t forget to check out the exhibits over the next
two days that right out here to my right. You\'ll see what\'s on the
horizon in terms of research and development, new technologies,
procedures, and safety practices. And I think that you\'ll find them
most informative. All of the information you need on the exhibits is
right in your program so please reference that. I think what is
different this year is we\'ve included some more sessions on general
aviation and I think that\'s an area that\'s growing worldwide. It\'s
certainly a huge population here in the United States and I hope that
discussion will be of interest to everybody as well.

We\'ve got a very impressive array of international safety talent here
today and we\'re looking forward to high level and provocative
discussions during both the plenary and breakout panel sessions. Now, to
save time, we\'re introducing our panelists in print. So in your
registration packet, you\'ll find a booklet with the biographies of
today\'s speakers and they\'re all listed in order of their appearance
on today\'s program. In addition, we are documenting today\'s
proceedings and will be making them available on line.

Now, if you have any questions, we\'ve got FAA staff members on hand who
are going to be happy to help you. And if you look for the people that
are wearing the staff ribbons, that\'s where you need to take your
questions. Most important are the evaluation forms that are in your
registration packet. We\'ve done this for the last two years and what we
rely on are your comments in those evaluations forms to make this
conference suitable to your desires and the things you want to get out
of it.

So please take the time to fill those out for us and drop them in the
box just outside of this room. This year, again, because of the great
number of international attendance and representation, we\'re providing
simultaneous interpretation in five languages; Arabic, Chinese, French,
Russian and Spanish. And also for presentations in any of these
languages, you can hear it in English by using the translation
equipment. Again, for more information, please reference your program or
ask one of the staff members for assistance.

If you are using the translation equipment, please leave it in the room
as you leave the room. We have that in every one of the rooms where
we\'re going to have sessions over the next couple of days. So please
leave the equipment behind. And the last thing I\'ll say is if you have
cell phones or pagers, please turn then off during the sessions or put
them in the silent mode. We\'d appreciate that. Two more housekeeping
items here. If you need airport transfers, just check with the hotel
desk and we will also be taking questions from the audience during all
the sessions over the next two days. We\'ll have microphones on hand so
everyone can hear your question and please don\'t be shy.

So now, let\'s get to the real reason why we\'re here and that is to
talk about safety. Aviation is really an incredible way to travel. But
we know we can and we must continue to make air travel safer and that\'s
the whole idea behind this conference, assembling the best minds in
aviation safety, putting together a provocative program, placing key
issues on the table and building safety partnerships. So I\'m very
pleased to kick things off by introducing our first speaker who may be
new to many of you but she\'s certainly no newcomer to transportation.

Mary Peters brings a lifetime of experience to transportation issues
from both the private and public sectors. From 2001 to 2005, she served
as the head of the Federal Highway Administration where she led efforts
to improve safety and security, reduce traffic congestion, and modernize
America\'s roads and bridges. She encouraged the use of new technologies
that reduced construction time and expense, resulting in safer,
longer-lasting highways. On the state level, Mary Peters previously
served as the top executive at the Arizona Department of Transportation
from 1998 to 2001 where her duties included not just surface
transportation, but also responsibility for the state\'s airports,
including one of the fastest growing in the region.

When President Bush nominated her to become Secretary of Transportation
he had this to say, \"She\'s an innovative thinker, she knows how to set
priorities and solve problems. Mary will work closely with state and
local leaders to insure that America has a state of the art
transportation system that meets the needs of our growing economy. So
ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the 15^th^ U.S.
Secretary of Transportation, Mary Peters.

SECRETARY PETERS: Bobby, thanks so much for that kind introduction and I
certainly am very pleased to have the opportunity to be here with you
today. I wanted to stress that my one-month anniversary as Secretary is
tomorrow, so coming to this event to be with you here today was so
important to me that I wanted to make sure it happened in my first
month.

On behalf of President Bush and on behalf of the United States of
America, and of course, the U.S. Department of Transportation, it is my
great pleasure to welcome you here today to the third annual
International Safety Forum. As we gather here today, news of Sunday\'s
tragic crash in Abuja, Nigeria is fresh in our thoughts. This, and other
incidents, including the jet that went down in Lexington, Kentucky in
August, are reminders of why we must always keep safety clearly on all
of our radar screens. So many precious lives can be lost in a single
moment and our hearts certain ache for the victims of these tragedies
and for their families.

I had an opportunity to visit with Senator McConnell shortly after the
airline crash in Lexington and he mentioned how the whole community was
grieving because so many of those aboard the plane that day were folks
well-known throughout the Lexington area. At the same time our resolve
to become stronger than ever to make sure that we build safety
considerations into every transportation decision, all of us, all of the
time.

So it\'s an honor to be here with so many leaders from the world
aviation community and I would like to especially welcome our
distinguished international guests to the United States. I want to also
thank Administrator Blakey for all that she and her team, including
Deputy Administrator Bobby Sturgell, have done to make sure that this
conference is a great success. Congratulations and thank you to both of
you as well. As many of you know, as the head of Federal Aviation
Administration, Marion Blakey was a driving force in establishing this
safety forum. Her background, both at the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, make
Marion uniquely qualified to lead this effort and someone who knew how
important it was to have this safety forum.

When the idea was proposed, three years ago, some asked whether we
needed such a forum and whether or not it would add value. Well, today
that answer is clear. Looking across this room it is evident that there
is a strong interest in all aspects of global aviation in the aviation
community coming together to advance safety. In fact, Marion told me
that this conference was over-subscribed, more people wanted to come
than there was room for even in this great hall here today. Nearly 500
top leaders are attending this conference, representing 50 nations and
the breadth of the aviation and aerospace community. As Bobby said, our
proceedings are being translated from English into five languages,
demonstrating the importance of this conference worldwide. But most
important the numbers speak for themselves and the benefit of
coordinated industry and government efforts to improve safety. The rate
of major aviation accidents has decreased across the globe by 25 percent
during the period of 2001 to 2005 as compared to the previous five-year
period and even with the recent crashes that I mentioned, 2006 is
shaping up to be the safest year ever in aviation around the globe. Here
in the United States aviation today has enjoyed an unparalleled safety
record. Prior to the Lexington crash a record, 2.7 billion passengers
flew without a single onboard fatality on American commercial flights. I
owe thanks to all of you for that incredible safety record.

But we must continue to raise the bar. When I was honored to become
Secretary of Transportation last month, I let our employees know that
safety is the top of my list of priorities. We are also committed to
improving the performance and the reliability of our nation\'s
transportation system and to apply 21^st^ Century solutions for 21^st^
Century transportation challenges, including new approaches to funding
to deal with our aging infrastructure across the broad spectrum here in
the United States. But I feel that we must always, always put safety
first when it comes to transportation priorities. That goes for our
roadways, our pipelines, most certainly our runways and our skies as
well.

Just yesterday I returned from the Midwest where I had the opportunity
to sit down with some veteran air traffic controllers and to join some
of our newest recruits in training exercises. I came away from that
visit with a very deep appreciation for the work that they do. It\'s
intense, it\'s complex, and it is absolutely vital to keeping tens of
thousands of flights moving through US air space daily without incident.
And that job promises to become even more complex and challenging in the
future.

Passenger volumes in this country are racing to the one billion mark
within this decade. Meanwhile companies like Cessna, whose assembly line
I also visited in Kansas, are preparing for delivery of thousands of new
very light jets, which will usher the largest increase in air traffic
since the 1960s.

Many of the planes will be operating outside of the United States, as
the global demand for aviation continues to climb. So it\'s no
coincidence that we have a significant general aviation presence in this
forum here today, from participation on panels to tomorrow\'s guest
speaker, Phil Boyer, President of the Aircraft Owners and Pilot\'s
Association. When President Bush swore me in, he noted that our nation
is fast outgrowing our aviation capacity. He charged me with modernizing
our airports and our air traffic control system to meet that growing
demand and we\'re certainly making steady progress in doing so. The
United States Government has plans to hire almost 12,000 new controllers
over the next 10 years to keep up with the growing air traffic demand.
And we\'re working on equipping these incoming controllers with the best
modern technology to help them safely handle the volumes of traffic that
they will be charged with. Aviation safety, however, is not a charge
that can be answered by any one manufacturer or for that matter, any one
airline, or even any single country. Aviation is the most international
form of transportation. Countless flights across our borders link
nations every day. And the passengers on board on any given flight may
have a variety of passports, speak a multitude of languages and of
course, the airplanes themselves and many of the parts that go into them
have diverse origins as well, and when something goes wrong, the
implications effect all of us.

So safety is a responsibility that we all must share. Fortunately,
because of organizations like ICAO, we have a international standard for
safety that is unmatched across transportation modes. ICAO facilitates
communication, cooperation, and puts the entire aviation community on
the same page, so to speak. I had an opportunity to meet with President
Kobeh just yesterday in my office and I\'m excited about the plans for
this organization. Both of us are very enthusiastic about the
opportunity we have to build upon ICAO\'s strong foundation. Roberto,
again, congratulations on your new position and I look forward to
working with you and thank you for being here today.

The same challenges that we\'re facing in the United States, however,
are being mirrored on a global basis. As other nations build their
aviation infrastructure and markets, particularly in many parts of Asia,
the number of passengers traveling is growing expedentially while air
cargo is increasingly a vital part of our domestic and international
freight movement. International air travel continues to expand strongly,
fueled by the growing liberalization of the aviation markets, a trend
that is both desirable and inevitable.

In the first eight months of this year alone, traffic among
international passenger carriers grew by 6.1 percent compared to the
same period last year. The bottom line is this; the modern global
economy cannot function without aviation and aviation cannot function
without an underlying commitment to safety. Each of you has demonstrated
by your presence here today your commitment to safety. The next day and
a half you will receive in-depth in the substance and the policies of
today\'s safety challenges.

I want to close by thanking you all for being here and I look forward to
working with all of you as a find ways to work with you to build on
aviation\'s tremendous safety record and to advance the safety agenda
not only in your country but throughout the world. Thank you again, for
your attendance. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this
morning. I do regret that I\'m not able to stay. Bobby, some of the
sessions sound very exciting and I wish I could stay a little longer and
spend more time with you today, but alas, I cannot. However, I will look
very much forward to speaking with Administrator Blakey about the
success of this conference and I wish you all well. Thank you.

(Applause)

MR. STURGELL: Thank you, Madam Secretary. We appreciate very much those
remarks. It\'s now my pleasure to introduce our next speaker, the
Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. As Secretary
Peters said, Marion Blakey\'s passion for aviation transportation safety
led her to conceive this conference three years ago, with a vision of
creating a forum that provided the international aviation community a
venue to address today\'s cutting edge issues with straight talk, head
on. I think that vision is now a reality. Ladies and gentlemen, the
Administrator Marion Blakey.

(Applause)

ADMINISTRATOR BLAKEY: Thank you, Bobby. And I want to reiterate Bobby\'s
comments, that we are so very grateful that Secretary Peters took time
out of what is really an incredible schedule for her right now to join
us here, so that really kicked things off with, I think, setting a
picture for us of the challenge ahead. And I do want to thank all of you
for being here. You know, I looked it up and apparently as best they can
count it, there are 194 countries on this planet and we\'ve got more
than 50 of them represented here, 50 very farsighted countries when it
comes to aviation. So I want to thank those of you who are new to this
forum for coming and joining us and for those of you who have been here
before, it\'s great to see you.

Now, I\'ve been asked to start things with a safety challenge this
morning. And I think as those of us in this business know, safety is
just that, it\'s a challenge. The task of moving people and goods
safely, efficiently and securely, that\'s tough. Point A to Point B, day
in and day out, it\'s a true challenge. And what makes it even more so
is that we have been doing it very well. We\'ve been able to amass a
safety record that is absolutely unparalleled. So the safety challenge
in a nutshell, how do you take it to the next level? What will not only
maintain this unparalleled record but what will position us to improve
as the operations grow, just as Secretary Peters laid out? I think the
answer to that is safety management systems, a topic for us over the
next two days, because they allow us to dig deep. They help us uncover
things and in so doing, they change the way we look at our own
operation.

Now, I\'ll tell you a little story because I think it\'s a case in
point, and that is about Battery Park in New York City, one of the
oldest public spaces in all of Manhattan. Some of you in fact, may have
been there at one point or another on your visits because the Battery
has been around for centuries. And it\'s an area of about two dozen
acres that stretches right there along the shoreline of the Hudson, a
really beautiful spot. But recently, the City of New York decided that
they were going to have to take steps to replace the subway, creating
quite a mess. Now, that subway also has been around for about 100 years.
So enter the construction crews, this was December of last year, 2005
and they were digging away in the cold and ice, and they hit a wall,
literally a wall that was buried 10 feet below the surface, a wall that
unfortunately was perpendicular to the path they needed to go for the
subway.

So guess what, as you\'d expect, everything stopped. The burning
question was, what the heck was this? And needless to say for the crews
that were out there in the snow and ice, they put it a little more
pointedly than that. The \"it\" turned out to be a wall that the
archeologists said was 240 years old. Perhaps it have been built by the
British, maybe by the colonists, who took a backseat to what. The answer
was they had uncovered a subterranean wall that was three feet high but
get this, eight feel thick and 40 feel long. So of course enter the
conservationists and rightly so. But while they were making plans for
the identification, dismantling, relocation, a second wall was
discovered, longer, taller, except that this one was built on logs at
its base. Now hitting the wall is an American phrase that comes from
marathon runners in the 1970s. You don\'t think of it in terms of
construction sites. But in this case, you can imagine how they felt when
they hit wall number 3, more than 100 feet long and nine feet thick.

So the question remained, why was this wall put there. Considerable
conjecture was all around but honestly no one knew. Now, I\'m going to
keep that mystery to the end but my point in telling you this story is
that the deeper you dig, the more you discover about what\'s going on,
about what you\'re doing. You won\'t learn how you operate until you get
below the surface, and when you do, you find precious pieces of data.
You learn about how things have been done and you learn about the
mistakes that were covered over.

There\'s a handful of issues that popped up at Battery Park. What was
it? How do you preserve it? Where do you put it? How do you dismantle
it? Should you dismantle it? Who owns it? Will this jeopardize our
funding? Will this information jeopardize our schedule? Maybe we should
cover it back up. Let\'s just look the other way. There\'s not one of us
here that doesn\'t see parallels in this situation to aviation. We need
to be sure we\'re not looking the other way. We need a rigorous and
formalized approach to identifying hazards, assessing the related risks
and identifying and prioritizing the best way to then intervene. Then,
we measure the effectiveness of the actions we\'re taking. It\'s a
continuous loop that\'s to a basic safety management systems. And make
no mistake about this one; safety management systems are the way to
surmount the inevitable walls that seem impenetrable at the time, the
walls that just come out of nowhere, some below the surface, just
waiting to be discovered.

Now, look, I know this is tough to do. When we talk about S and S
everybody says, \"Ooh, this it going to be hard\", and that\'s true. But
frankly, I don\'t think we have a choice. Right now, the commercial
fatal accident rate in the United States is about two fatal accidents
for every 10 million takeoffs, and forecasts anticipate that we should
expect a doubling or tripling of traffic in the next 10 to 20 years. The
question is pretty elementary, isn\'t it? Is it acceptable to us or to
the flying public to have a doubling or tripling of accidents? I don\'t
think so. We know that the passenger numbers are going to continue to
climb. We\'re expecting a billion by 2015. We know, for example, that
there may very well be 5,000 very light jets in the system by that year.
NetJets, one of the United States\' very successful fractional ownership
operations, has a larger fleet now than some US airlines. And we know
we\'re going to anticipate the emergence of the unmanned aerial
vehicles, unmanned aerial systems, pretty soon up there in the airspace
as well. Just last week I attended really an amazing event, a commercial
space conference for the X Price Cup out in New Mexico. You know, those
are the folks who brought you Spaceship 1, the first private astronauts
in space just two years ago. And the guys with rockets, I\'m telling
you, they are rapidly seeing their own come into fruition as well. So
it\'s another wrinkle to the ever-expanding national and international
airspace, aerospace system.

So with all that on the table, with a system that\'s growing rapidly,
more complex day after day we can no long rely on forensic studies of
accidents to determine our next steps. Forensics is a straightforward
approach. Accident occurs, we analyze it. Then we take steps to prevent
its recurrence. The forensic approach, I think it\'s fair to say got us
largely where we are today. And that\'s the world standards for safety.
The best of the best. But to get to the next level, we need to move
beyond forensics to data analysis, from the analysis of what has
happened, to an analysis of what the data show might happened with a
high degree of probability.

It comes down to managing risk. And you have to know the hazards, the
consequences of what can hurt us and then you have to analyze the
likelihood that it will happen, the risk, and then, of course, the
severity. The purpose of Safety Management Systems is to provide a
systematic way to eliminate, mitigate or manage risk and to provide
assurance that those actions are going to be effective once we take
them. The key to the future of aviation safety, I believe, hinges on
data that become information and that information, this is key, it must
be shared. We need to remove impediments that would prohibit sharing.
ICAO calls this something that I think is a very telling phrase. It\'s a
just culture. I think they\'re absolutely right.

ICAO reports, and I\'m quoting here, \"The lack of full and open
reporting continues to pose a considerable barrier to further safety
progress in so many areas\". Let\'s face it, there\'s no place for fear
in safety. A safety culture is a just culture. We need to instill a mind
set, a mind set that revolved around a safety culture. Continuous
efforts on safety improvements have to come from lessons learned from
all of us. It\'s the byproduct of a conducive reporting environment,
that things are brought to the forefront and often to all of us to
learn. That\'s a just culture.

With that as context, the information we gather and share is going to
require a lot of hard study and analysis as well. It will require that
we take a disciplined, a methodical approach, and that we\'re all united
against what I think is a part of that fear that some time is lurking
over here. The quick, snap judgments or those who would sensationalize
the data, we have to stand united against that. It will require a long,
hard, continuous look at what\'s happening every day. And I\'m not just
talking about airline and airport operations but what happens in our
operations as safety oversight authorities, as the regulators, that\'s
if we want to take safety to the next level.

I\'m proud to say at the FAA, we\'re making that move. In fact, on
October 16, just a few days ago, the FAA\'s Aviation Safety Organization
was determined by an independent outside auditor to meet the ISO 9001
Standards. We\'re the first government agency of the United States of
our size and complexity to achieve certification to this prestigious
international standard. That means we\'ve established a system that
covers multiple services, includes national and international sites. In
this case we\'re talking about 6,462 employees that Mr. Sabatini here
supervises. No small thing. As many of you know, ISO is the world\'s
largest developer of voluntary international standards and our
certification covers areas that are very familiar to all of you; flight
standards, aircraft certification, aerospace medicine, rulemaking,
accident investigation, air traffic safety and suspected unapproved
parts and our quality integration. So I am very proud and Nick, tip of
the hat to all of you on your team, that we have taken the next step up.

We\'re applying the same rigorous standards to ourselves that we expect
business to meet. The regulator and the regulated must toe the same
line. And let me say, as hard as that will be going forward, because
it\'s not just a question of getting there, you\'ve got to stay there,
but that\'s exactly as it should be. I\'m telling you this because data
sharing is an important part of our safety message. Sharing safety data
is essential to achieving a stronger future for aviation safety. You
know, I think as we\'re talking about this the next two days, I think we
might as well be honest about a few of the challenges here. We don\'t
even know how much safety information there is out there and what\'s
truly important and relevant for us to collect; operators,
manufacturers, repair stations, suppliers, all the way across the
aviation community. Nick tells me he thinks at this point, we\'re
probably collecting barely five percent of the available data.

Okay, so what about that other 95 percent? We\'re the folks that are
going to have to figure out what do we do about that? What\'s relevant
and how do we deal with it? But if we\'re going to continue to put
downward pressure on the accident rate, we need far more information
about emerging trends, precursors. We need to know more about what\'s
going on every day in operating, maintenance, manufacturing
environments. When we share the information, we move ourselves from the
point where diagnostics becomes prognostics. Remember the low hanging
fruit is gone and sharing information of what we see, what we find, has
got to be the wave of the future.

So here\'s where we are. The system is growing in the United States and
everywhere you all are. The vehicles are changing. Technology is
changing. And from a safety standpoint, we cannot tolerate any increase
in accidents despite all this increase. In fact, we have to drive the
rate down. Now, let me say in closing that the answer to the safety
challenge is not only technology, technology is important and you\'ll
see those technologies here on exhibit. As Bobby mentioned a few minutes
ago, we do have a great exhibit out there. From NEXGEN to RNF, to RNP,
ADS-B and ATOP, a sea of alphabets is out there, but we\'re also going
to be looking these two days at international safety policies, the
backbone of any global aviation system.

So you\'re going to hear about emerging risk of airports, in global
manufacturing and maintenance and a performance based air traffic
control, the rule of safety certification, recertification and
regulation and a privatized ATC. Look, I\'ve covered quite a bit of
ground but the story I raised right at the beginning is something we
need to keep in the forefront of this conference. The wall that I talked
about, archeologists now believe that it came from the original gun
fortifications, the battery that gave Battery Park its name. So the
deeper you dig, the more you learn. For aviation, the deeper you dig,
the more you learn, the safer you get. We can\'t afford to be content
with the status quo. For the safest of all time, and as the runners say,
\"We can\'t afford to hit the wall\". Thank you very much.

(Applause)

SECRETARY PETERS: Thank you very much. Now, of course, we are here
because safety is paramount around the globe and the desire of each and
every one of us in this room to seek cooperation at every level is in
the forefront. What I\'ve just described is the vision of our keynote
speaker this morning because when it comes to going the extra step, when
it comes to making aviation safety the export for everyone to share, his
name is mentioned every time. He\'s now the president of the Council of
the International Civil Aviation Organization since this August and
Roberto, I\'m very proud that your first official visit out of Montreal
is to this prestigious gathering of safety folks from around the globe.
We want to thank you for that.

He\'s held a variety of positions over many years including as the
Director General of Air Navigation Services for Mexico, a career in
aviation that spans five decades, so when it comes to having a
historical view, the big context, it doesn\'t get any better. We\'ve
very fortunate to have him today and we\'re all eager to share his
insights. Please join me in welcoming Mr. Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez,
President of ICAO.

(Applause)

MR. KOBEH GONZALEZ: Thank you very much, Marion for such a warm
introduction. It\'s always a pleasure to see you and especially today.
As you mentioned, yes, this is my first public presentation since I am
taking office as President of the Council of ICAO and I am delighted
that this takes place before such a distinguished audience and on a
subject of critical importance to global air transport, namely aviation
safety.

By way of opening remarks, I would like to pay tribute to my dear friend
and colleague, Dr. Assad Kotalte, for retired on 31 July of this year
after serving for 30 years as President of the Council of ICAO. It is an
honor and privilege to succeed such a pillar of the international
civilian aviation for whom the promotion of aviation safety was a
lifelong issue. I would also like to notice your remarkable contribution
of the United States to the cause of aviation safety over the years.
Right from the creation of ICAO in 1944, the United States has been one
of the most ardent supporters of the organization. When we speak of
aviation safety, members of the aviation community may have different
perspectives on the subject, yet for all of us this is one common
concern, that of saving and protecting the lives of passengers, crews
and persons on the ground. Without the excellent safety record that we
have worked together so hard to achieve over the past half century and
more, we would not enjoy the enormous economic, social and cultural
benefits of our vibrant air transport industry. The theme of this
symposium, \"Safety from Top to Bottom,\" captures the essence of how to
maintain and improve in our remarkable performance, in a few words, what
is required is a firm commitment for senior management of airlines,
airports, service providers, manufacturers, regulators, and all other
stakeholders no matter how small for aircraft operation to be as safe as
humanly possible.

The commitment to safety must flow down from the top like a waterfall
and permeate every part of the organization. Everyone must be focused on
safety in the cockpit or behind the traffic control screen, on the
assembly line of manufacturers and in the maintenance hangar, on board
the aircraft or on the tarmac, in a government office or chief landing
body (phonetic) because safety begins in the mind. It is a mind set, an
attitude and must be an integral element of the organization\'s culture.
In ICAO safety has always been and will remain our top priority. It is
enshrined in the Convention of International and Civil Aviation. Fifteen
of the 18 annexes deal with safety and efficiency in air navigation. And
the annex of security is also related to safety since a flight that is
not secure is not safe.

Safety is the focus of the first of six objectives contained in our
business plan and it calls upon the organization to enhance global civil
aviation safety through a number of specific measures based on
prevention, cooperation, and the consistent implementation of ICAO
Standards and Recommended Practices, SARPs. After more than 40 years in
national and international civil aviation, I am convinced that many
accidents would not have occurred if ICAO SARPs contained in the annexes
would have been implemented uniformly and consistently. I am happy to
say that there is now within ICAO, a clear shift in focus toward
implementation of the standards. Of course, existing standards will
continue to be updated where necessary to keep pace with the evolving
aviation industry. And new standards will reflect high level
requirements with a clear benefit for safety. Yet, implementation will
prevail as a previous part to improve safety.

The ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program, USOAP, will play an
integral role in this global effort following the conference of Director
General of Civil Aviation in March of this year. In a landmark decision,
DCAGs from 153 participating states agree to allow the ICAO to post
results from USOAP on the organization\'s public website as soon as
possible and no later than March 2008.

At present, some 80 states have authorized ICAO to publish the
information without its target out in the territories and so many
reports can now be consulted online. I am sure that many others will
respond positively in the months to come. It is an unprecedented
development in terms of increasing transparency and sharing of
information among the estates as well as with industry and the traveling
public. It should encourage the states to correct more quickly the
safety deficiencies and remain in the \-- that remain in the aviation
systems and make it easier for estates and donors to provide more rapid
and more effective assistance to those that require much needed
financial and human resources.

Transparency and sharing of information are also at the heart of the
unified strategy to solve safety-related deficiencies adopted by the
35^th^ session of the ICAO assembly in 2004. The strategy emphasized
that free flow of safety related information must be embraced by
everyone involved in air transport at every level and across every
discipline. This is essential condition to create or strengthening
partnership to resolve deficiencies, essentially in the form of regional
or sub-regional safety organizations. ICAO, National Civil Aviation
Authorities, industry and the founding institutions must cooperate in
the provisional aviation technical and financial assistance and
guidance.

A good example of the potential of transparency for improving safety is
Article 21 of the Chicago Convention. Article 21 prescribes that each
contracting state should undertake to supply to any other contraction
state or to ICAO, on demand, information regarding registration and
ownership of registered aircraft. When this registration data is shared,
it can provide a clear picture of the status of any given aircraft. The
states can then make more informed decisions regarding operations by the
aircraft within the air space. ICAO will help to process along with a
proposal to facilitate the exchange of data concerning aircraft
registrations and some has already been posted in the ICAO website. At
the same time that we are moving in the direction of more openness, the
air transport industry is growing consistently, in large part the result
of hybridization and exploding markets, most notably in Asia. The
International Air Transport Association, IATA, reported earlier that
2006 international passengers traffic for the first half of this year
grew 6.7, 6.7 percent over the same period in 2005, and by the year
2015, ICAO expects that passenger traffic will have grown to some 2.8
billion passengers annually and 30 million aircraft movements.
Concurrently, the privatization of airlines, airports and air navigation
services by making inspections of operations more complex and more labor
intensive.

It is increasingly difficult to obtain the requisite resources in terms
of qualified people to insure proper application of safety oversight
practices as the regulatory and industry levels. The answer, of course,
lies in safety management system or SMS, the most effective way to
respond to the need for effective supervision with relatively smaller
force work. Many ICAO member states are implementing or exploring safety
management system to compliment the existing regulatory structure. We
encourage them to do so and ICAO offers concrete assistance in the form
of standards, related guidance material for establishing safety
management system including a set of aligned safety management
provisions for aircraft operations, air traffic services and air dromes
(phonetic) as well as model legislation to make it easier to implement
SMS.

In all of our communications on the subject, we insist on the fact that
safety management is not a matter of individual states alone. It must be
carried out in a coordinated and cooperative manner based on the ICAO
framework. All practicing both in civil aviation have responsibilities
for safety oversight and compliance. I know that there are translation
in several languages. Then I am going to shift to Spanish now.

La cooperación mundial es esencial para enfrentar, con éxito, los
tremendos desafíos del futuro. Yo soy, particularmente, sensible a la
tenida escasez de pilotos calificados, y experimentados, que podría
sobrevenir, como resultado, del continuo aumento de las operaciones de
las líneas aeras, suscitado por el continuo incremento del trafico de
pasajeros.

A si mismo el cumplimiento de los requisitos relativos a la competencia
lingüística que serán aplicables en Marzo del 2008, exigirá esfuerzos
intensos para asegurar la instrucción apropria, y la certificación,
tanto de los pilotos, como de los controladores de transito aéreo.

Cada uno de ustedes enfrentara una amplia rama de desafíos propios de su
industria, o de su responsabilidad. A fin de liderar la comunidad
aeronáutica mundial en un esfuerzo de cooperación, colaboración, y
coordinación, para enfrentar estos desafíos, la WASE, viene desde hace
ya algún tiempo, implantando su primer plan de actividades diseñado para
modernizar la organización y a aumentar su eficiencia y eficacia.

Nos concentraremos en programas e iniciativas basados en el rendimiento.
Aquellos que den mayores beneficios por la inversión del recurso humano,
de recursos humanos y financieros limitados, mediante métodos de trabajo
y practicas de gestión, que lleven a la obtención de resultados
identificables.

La WASE será mas dinámica en responder a las necesidades y expectativas
de su 189 estados contratantes. En pocas palabras, nos centraremos en
cumplir con las responsabilidades que nos incumbe, como organización
mundial, en los siguientes ámbitos clave.

La implementación, a nivel mundial, de los sistemas de gestión de la
seguridad operacional, destinados a lograr resultados mesurables, en el
ámbito de la seguridad de la aviación.

La elaboración, entre los estados, de medidas globales de seguridad de
aviación, basadas en el rendimiento. La búsqueda de medidas unificadas y
coordinadas para reducir los efectos perjudiciales de la aviación civil
en el medio ambiente, y la implantación de sistemas de gestión de
transito aérea, armonizados, y de mejoras en la eficiencia basada en el
rendimiento.

> Muchos de estos temas serán objeto de debate en el próximo periodo de
> sesiones ordinario de la Asamblea de la WASE, en 2007. Sé que muchos
> de ustedes estarán ahí, y les invito a empezar a reflexionar sobre su
> contribución a lo que espero será una asamblea muy constructiva, y con
> visión de futuro.

Damas y caballeros, el segundo foro anual de Seguridad Operacional de la
Aviación de la FAA, celebrado el año pasado, por esta época, contribuyo,
significativamente, al debate en torno a la seguridad operacional de la
aviación. Espero, con interés, seguir el desarrollo de esta tercera
edición, que nos ofrecerá formas igualmente estimulantes, e innovadoras,
de promover la causa de cielos operacionalmente mas seguros en todo el
mundo.

La comunidad de la aviación depende de reuniones como esta para
encontrar soluciones realistas, y practicas, ante el reto global de la
seguridad operacional. Y estoy convencido de que ustedes sabrán
satisfacer sus expectativas para bien de todos nosotros. Les agradezco,
de nuevo, su gentileza, y la invitación, y la oportunidad que me
brindan, de participar en lo que confió será un foro muy productivo.
Muchas gracias.

(English translation of Spanish portion immediately above.) Global
cooperation is essential to confront, with success, future challenges. I
am particularly sensitive to the scarcity of qualified, experienced
pilots that could come about with the increased operations, by the
airlines, brought about by the increased increment in passenger traffic.

I am also aware of the requirements related to linguistic competency
that will be applicable in March of 2008, which will require intensive
efforts to ensure proper instruction, and the certification of both the
pilots and traffic controllers.

Each of you will face numerous challenges in your industry, or in your
area of responsibilities, in order to lead the global airline industry
to cooperate, collaborate, and coordinate the facing of these
challenges. WASE has been, since some time back, implementing the first
activity plan designed to modernize the organization and to increase
efficiency and efficacy.

We will concentrate on programs and initiatives based on the rendition
of mayor benefits from human resources, and limited financial resources,
based on work methods and management practice, which will give us
identifiable results.

WASE will be more dynamic in responding to the needs and expectations of
its 189 contract states. In other words, we will concentrate on
fulfilling the responsibilities that are incumbent upon us, as a
worldwide organization, in the following key fields.

The implementation, on a world-wide basis, of operational security
management, destined to result in measurable results, in the aviation
security field; the elaboration, between states, of global security
aviation measures, based on the findings; The search to reduce the
prejudicial effects on the environment by civil aviation, and the
implementation of management transit systems, harmonized, and the
betterment of efficiencies based on the findings.

Many of these themes will be subject to debate in the next period of
ordinary sessions of the WASE, in 2007. I know many of you will be there
and I invite you to start reflecting on your contribution so that this
will be a very productive meeting, and with vision towards the future.

Ladies and gentlemen, the second annual forum on Operational Security of
the FAA, which took place last year around this time, significantly
contributed to the debate on the operational security of aviation. I
wait, with interest, to follow the development of the third edition,
that will offer us stimulating and innovative ways to promote worldwide
safety in our skies.

The aviation community depends on meetings such as this to find
realistic and practical solutions in the global challenge of operational
security. And I am convinced that you will satisfy these expectations
for the well being of all of us.

I thank you, once again, for giving me the opportunity to participate in
what I hope will be a very productive forum. Thank you very much.

(Applause)

ADMINISTRATOR BLAKEY: What an excellent challenge, what an excellent
opportunity we will have in the next assembly. I think we\'re all
getting revved up for this. And it\'s, again and indeed a great honor to
have with us today the Director General and CEO of the International Air
Transport Association. I think many of you know that Giovanni Bisignani
brings extensive business experience to IATA. Before being named to his
current post in 2002, he launched and directed the first European
airline owned online travel agency breaking truly new ground. Let me
tell you, he\'s a may with an eye for the next big thing and I have a
feeling he can challenge us to that in safety as well, because, of
course he knows it long and strong.

He was previously the CEO and Managing Director of Air Italia, no small
feat itself. In short, our next guest has the broad experience you need
to cast the wide net of safety. He also have the drive, the insight and
I have to say the creativity to make it happen. Please join me in
welcoming our next distinguished guest, the Director and Chief Executive
Officer of the International Air Transport Association, Giovanni
Bisignani.

(Applause.)

MR. BISIGNANI: Thank you, Marion, for your kind invitation and for your
very kind words. And it\'s a pleasure to be again here with all of you,
among great friends in discussing our number 1 priority, safety. IATA,
as you know, represents 260 airlines, 94 percent of the scheduled
international traffic and our mission is we represent and serve air
transport. Safety is at the core of our mission and our industry can be
proud on our achievements.

Our industry has been in crisis, you all know since 2001. We are
bleeding red ink. Between 2001 and 2005 airline lost \$40 billion. The
crisis was a catalyst to improve efficiency because since 2001, labor
productivity increased 33 percent, sales and distribution dropped 10
percent and non-fuel unit costs reduced by 13 percent. In 2001, the
industry fuel bill was 443 billion and it represented 13 percent of our
total operating costs. Now, our bill is \$115 billion accounting for 26
percent of our total operating cost. Just in one year we had to increase
\-- the bill increased of \$24 billion. But remarkably, airlines will
still improve their bottom line from a \$3.2 billion loss last year to a
\$1.7 billion loss this year, with US carriers posting operating
profits. Next year, we expect a small profit of \$1.9 billion. That\'s
just a .4 percent return on \$450 billion, so there\'s no reason to open
champagne, but we are moving in the right direction. The crisis in those
numbers have not distracted the airlines from safety because numbers
tell a great story. The industry hull lost rate for western built jets
was cut in half in the last 10 years, .76 hull lost rate per million
flights in 2005. IATA carriers benefiting from our program did
significantly better, .35 hull losses per millions sectors. In the
industry target for 2005, is .65 and we are on track achieving a .62 by
the end of September. But these figures are important but ask also some
key realities that we have to face and discuss.

If we all look \-- if we look at all aircraft types and all accident,
the figure is three times higher, 2.1 per million sectors. Later we\'ll
discuss the situation in three areas; Africa, Russia and Latin America.
My message is clear, we have to do more. We can be proud of our results,
but we\'ll have to look ahead and do more and we need a businesslike
approach to safety. For IATA, that means first setting achievable tough
targets with deadlines. Our target for 2008, that was given us from
abroad is to reduce a hull loss rate by a further 25 percent over 2006
and we also have similar targets for all aircraft and for all the
regions where we operate. As with any other business, you need a plan to
achieve challenging targets.

Our plan is a six-point IATA strategy. The first point is to use data
effectively to guide our efforts and Marion was very clear in
underlining the importance of accurate data and sharing those data. The
next three are to take action in areas of infrastructure including
ground handling, cargo operation and flying operation. The last two
points are to implement the right processes; Safety Management Systems.
Marion clearly underlined the importance of this and auditing. Finally,
we must focus on the basic principle, global standards and
harmonization. These are the three themes for my discussion.

Let me start with two success stories, the global aviation safety
roadmap and the IATA operation safety audit and then I will address the
other two points. Global aviation roadmap; next month the industry will
deliver the final part of the global aviation safety roadmap to ICAO.
This is a clear vision for an efficient and consistent global approach
to safety. It is the heart \-- in it\'s heard a global standard and
harmonization. What the role in the commitment of the industry?
Eliminating these inconsistencies in safety management systems and
strategies, regulatory compliances, and use of best practices. Closing
gaps in the use of technology, removing impediments to effective data
analysis and insuring the adequate supply of qualified personnel.

States must eliminate inconsistencies in application of international
standards and oversight practices and implement more effective reporting
and investigation of accidents and incidents. Many of you helped in the
roadmap and this is a great opportunity to say to all of you, thank you
very much but words on paper do not always deliver results and the
roadmap is useless if it\'s not followed carefully. I signed the roadmap
along with the CEO of Airbus, Boeing, ACI, CANSO, FALPA and the Flight
Safety Foundation and IACA\'s acceptance is a commitment by the state.
So there is no excuse for anyone to get lost in uncoordinated plans.

Airlines are committed and moving forward and we must have no patience
for anyone who is not on board. The IATA operational safety audit, IOSA,
is an example of an action. IATA developed IOSA working closely with
ICAO in individual states, US, Canada, Australia. We appreciate very
much your support in the initial stage and many of the players around
this table. And it is the first global standard for airline audits and
includes safety management systems, a component of the roadmap. By the
end of next year we plan to five million in IOSA. And IOSA is at the
core of our efforts to raise the bar on safety in rationalized audits.
For those less familiar, IOSA was launched in 2003 at our AGM. It
measures a collection of industry best practices complying ICAO
standards. IOSA standards are offered free of charge for any commercial
airline in the world, IATA or not IATA.

Audits are conducted by a competitive market of eight independent
commercial audit organizations and IATA managed quality to IOSA 9,000
processes. Registration lasts two years and a list of airlines on the
registry can be seen on IATA\'s website open, transparent for everybody.
And government and airlines can access the entire IOSA audit
documentation through a controlled process. In our 2006 annual general
meeting, the airlines voted unanimously to make IOSA a condition for
IATA membership in 2008.

And for our association with 260 members, it is a strong mark of
commitment to quality. And IOSA is core to achieving our targets to
further improve safety. Already we have 121 airlines on the registry, a
quarter of those are non-IATA members and now over 2002 member airlines
are on the IOSA process. Alliances around the world are using IOSA as a
safety standard for membership and code sharing. The register of audit
results has already avoided nearly 400 audits and IOSA compliments
ICAO\'s universal safety oversight audit program.

And many individual governments are incorporating IOSA in their
oversight activities. The FAA accepts IOSA data for US carriers code
shares. France includes IOSA in their label horizon program. Switzerland
expedites air rights to IOSA registered carriers. In countries as Egypt,
Chile, Lebanon, Madagascar and many others have made IOSA a condition
for AOC. And AOC made it a criteria for operations two and from the Arab
region so I encourage the governments to use IOSA effectively. There is
no cost, it\'s open, transparent. It is at your service. And Gunther
Mather (phonetic) and his team are eager to explore ways to work
together.

Another area in which we have started to tackle is ground damage and
I\'m pleased to report that we are tackling now the ground damage. That
represents \$4 billion for airlines in a similar manner to IOSA. There
is no global standard for oversight in auditing of ground handling
companies, so IATA is developing one using the IOSA approach. Last week
we started developing standards with key stakeholders including
logically our great cousins ICAO and the ground handlers, and Boeing
AirBus Flight Safety Foundation have provided all the basic data to
guide our initial efforts. The target is to start to conduct an audit in
2008.

And I\'m sure that I can count on your support to contribute to this
development of this initial stage of this audit criteria, and
incorporate this valuable tool into oversight programs. That\'s all good
news and I want to thank you for your support and I think as an industry
we can be proud of the results on safety, but let\'s open, look clearly
and frankly to the many challenges that we have, specifically regional
differences, foreign operator specification and air traffic management.

Let\'s start with regional differences, because in regional differences
numbers tell very powerful stories. While the global average for all
aircraft accident is 2.1 per million flights, Latin America is 3.4.
Russia is 5.9 and Africa is off the chart at 10.2. This is not
acceptable. So the first step to a solution is honestly recognizing that
we have a big problem in certain important areas of the world. And I
applaud to ICAO to the adopting (phonetic) of the IOSA and publication
of the results. Roberto mentioned it but it was a great, great step.
Europeans recently have implemented black lists as part of their safety
programs. To be frank, black lists do not improve safety. In more
transparent criteria and efforts as such an example are needed to backup
naming decision, but I welcome the strong statement made on the
performance of some government, Swaziland, Sierra Leone, Djibouti Congo,
their safety record is an embarrassment for this industry. And flags of
convenience have no place in a safe industry and we have taken action
and I think that everybody has to take action.

IATA supports the Safe Skies for Africa Program. But we must see better
results from Africa. Our action is to help our members. IATA has taken
an action with the limited resources that we have with a Partnership for
Safety Program. It prepares all carriers for IOSA by identifying and
filling gaps. Our first targets are Africa and Latin America because you
saw the figures. In Africa Partnership for Safety has already trained
175 professionals, from 17 civil aviation organizations and 46 airlines
and we will have a completed gap analysis on 26 IOTA members by this
year. In Latin America, 110 representatives from governments and
airlines have been trained and five gap analysis are complete with 13
more scheduled in the following months.

I\'ve written to the Minister \-- Russian Minister Levitin and a second
time to the President of Nigeria, offering all IATA\'s assistance. IOSA
standard includes consideration from Eastern-built aircraft. And we are
examining actions under the partnership\'s program. Out budget for
partnership for this specific program is limited, 3 million in this last
six months but support from partners have been quite frankly
disappointing. But I appreciate the support received from Pratt and
Whitney and Boeing contributing financially to those efforts.

On another point, our industry\'s meek response to the French
Government\'s United for Aid proposals is also very disappointing. Why?
Alternative funding for drug purchase is a noble action but taxing
aviation is counter-productive and contravenes ICAO principles. Aviation
taxes must be invested in aviation. We need those funds and regional
safety needs are more serious funding commitment for government could be
a great opportunity to improve.

Another area in which we are a bit disappointed is the proliferating of
foreign operator specifications. In addition to long-standing US
requirements, China, Russia, Trinidad, Tobago, United Arab Emeritus and
other have recently announced their own programs and Europe, Australia
and Canada are expected to follow. If we continue to go down this road,
we will spend a lot of our budget managing bureaucracy with little
positive impact on safety. It makes no sense to add complexity to
regulation. Safety is better served by consistency and it is misguided
at a time when we have all committed to global standard. As an interim
measure, I challenge those countries with specific foreign carriers
operation to harmonize. I look forward to seeing results from either the
ICAO group comprising of Europe, US, Canada and Australia in this
specific area.

And ultimately if governments are concerned about safety oversight
capabilities of their peers in specific areas, they can use IOSA for
specific needs and they can strengthen ICAO\'s role putting even more
teeth into the USOAP great program.

Air traffic management; safe air traffic management is also critical to
this industry. That means standard rules, procedures and technology.
Every variation in procedure, every change in unit of measurement and
every difference in required equipment is an opportunity for a problem
or a disaster. We are working with governments across the globe on
implementing RNAV and other ATM enhancements but we need to have a great
big picture. The IATA one sky global ATM roadmap initiative highlighted
the need for a grand plan and ICAO\'s global air navigation plan
reflects this results and we are congratulate ICAO.

But I would like to move faster in the direction of a common approach.
The US Joint Planning and Development Office is focused on next
generation air transport system based on US technology and the Single
European Sky ATM Roadmap says, SESAR, is focused on European technology
and solutions. And in parallel we have Boeing and AirBus have their own
initiative. If we don\'t harmonize the result will be not positive. We
must build a future of air navigation where national egos and personal
limit and national support to local technology have no place in a global
picture.

In July a memorandum of understanding was signed by FAA and EUROCONTROL
to cooperate. This is a great story and I\'m sure that we\'ll be working
in the same \-- they will be working in order to achieve those results.
But before concluding just a few comments on security. The way forward
is exactly the same as of safety, global standard and harmonization.
Security improved tremendously after 2001 but we missed at that time the
opportunity to harmonize. The recent agreement on sharing PNR data
access between the United States and Europe was an important step in the
right direction with the right approach. Similarly, harmonization of
rules for hand luggage across Europe is a step in the right direction.

But one must certainly question why we cannot agree to a common hand
luggage requirement everywhere and why we cannot have a common standard
for whole baggage screening so that we can eliminate the need for
rescreening at least with a country that had the same kind of attention
and equipment. This is a waste of 100 million that could be meaningfully
used in other areas, safety for example. As a first step we could have
an agreement among countries with similar standards. I realize that the
purpose of this conference is safety but let\'s not miss the opportunity
to remind our security colleagues of the success of global standards in
data driven approach and safety and encourage them to learn from the
excellent example that you are setting because safety is a great story
to tell.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Marion and the FAA for organizing
this third International Safety Forum. Marion, with your passion, your
commitment, and your great vision, have brought an international
approach to the FAA that has made and old and great partner even better.
We want to also recognize and support President Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez
and Dr. Cherif and ICAO for their great, great efforts. We call them
cousins because we work really close to close and I have to compliment
and congratulate for how effectively they handled the recent August
London crisis.

No one entity can delivery success in safety, it must be a team effort.
And the team is in this room; industry, airports, air navigation server
providers, airlines, manufacturers of aircraft, pilots, governments,
ICAO and suppliers. Each of us has a role to play and a responsibility
to learn and to share. A common goal must be to achieve and implement a
harmonized set of global standards that will make the safest form of
transport even safer. Thank you very much for your attention.

(Applause)

MR. STURGELL: I think you can see now why we\'re so pleased to have
Giovanni with us today. He\'s certainly somebody who knows how to stir
the pot a little bit and that\'s what this forum is all about. So
Giovanni, thank you very much and President Kobeh, we are again very
pleased that you\'re able to join us here today.

Before we take our first break, I just want to remind everybody that
6:00 p.m. tonight on the sunset terrace in the lower level, we will be
having a reception featuring American cuisine and we\'re also going to
liven it up a little bit with some Blue Grass and Big Band music as
well. So please join us for that. I do want to once again thank the Air
Transport Association and the International Air Transport Association
for being our sponsors this year and I\'d also like to point out from my
team, Virginia Krohn, (phonetic) I don\'t see her standing around yet,
but Virginia, the Offices of Aviation Safety, Nick\'s group and Joe\'s
group at the Office of International Aviation for their assistance in
putting this together. And finally, we do have a number of FAA
international reps in the room today. If I can quickly ask you folks to
stand for us. We have people come in from Brussels, Singapore, London as
well as some new folks going out to the field. So the FAA international
reps, please stand and everybody, please introduce yourself, get to know
your FAA partners internationally. I know we\'re running just a little
bit behind, but I do want to give people a break. So how about 10
minutes and we\'ll pick it back up right here at 10:25. Thanks very
much.

(Whereupon, at 10:15 a.m. a brief recess was taken.)