Shefali Juneja becomes first woman chairperson of ICAO Aviation security committee

Senior bureaucrat Shefali Juneja on Friday, 17 September was elected as the Chairperson of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Aviation Security Committee. This will see India taking charge of the position after a gap of 12 years. Juneja was serving as India's representative in the council of the ICAO since 2019.

With this appointment, Juneja will become the first woman to lead this strategic committee for the United Nations' body. Juneja, a 1992 batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre), served as the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation before joining the ICAO. She was appointed as the Representative of India in the council for a period of three years, replacing senior IAS officer Alok Shekhar.

Located in Montreal, Canada, the ICAO Council adopts standards and recommends practices concerning air navigation, its infrastructure, flight inspection, prevention of unlawful interference, and facilitation of border-crossing procedures for international civil aviation. The ICAO also defines the protocols for air accident investigation that are followed by transport safety authorities in countries signatory to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation.

SpiceJet settles with Boeing 737 MAX Lessor CDB Aviation

SpiceJet on 13 September announced that it has entered into a settlement with a major lessor of Boeing 737 Max aircraft, CDB Aviation. The low-cost carrier said that it expects to bring Max aircraft to service by the end of September with subject to regulatory approvals. In a statement, SpiceJet said that the settlement with CDB Aviation "will add to already announced settlement with Avolon and grow its fleet of 737 MAX aircraft".

Last month, SpiceJet had entered into a settlement with Avolon, also a major lessor of Boeing MAX aircraft, to bring the airline's 737 Max aircraft back to service. This development comes after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) lifted the commercial flight operations ban on Boeing 737 Max planes after more than two years last month. In 2019, India had grounded all Boeing 737 Max aircraft after the deadly crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max plane which killed 157 people, including four Indians.

The DGCA in an order dated 26 August said that it has been monitoring the global trends regarding ungrounding of 737 Max aircraft. A total of 34 airlines worldwide operated 1.22 lakh flights using Max aircraft without reporting any "untoward" incident, India's aviation regulator said. It added that 737 Max planes are permitted to resume operations "only upon satisfaction of applicable requirements for return to service."

(Image: ANI/UNSPLASH)