Aviation Industry to Work on Voluntary Tracking Ahead of U.N. Rules

Created in 1944, Montreal-based ICAO coordinates between the 191 states that have signed the Chicago Convention, the main treaty that governs civil aviation. The organisation sets binding standards, and prefers to find a consensus among member countries, which is time-consuming. "The real issue is who is in charge of mandating better tracking," said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst at Teal Group, in Fairfax, Virginia. "If it is the industry, they will have to bear all the uncertainty about technical change, negotiations with pilots and so on. It is not just about nickel and diming in safety, there is real uncertainty."