An International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) task force recommended on Tuesday that nations establish a centralized information-sharing system designed to warn airplanes of risks to civil aviation arising from war zones. Created in reaction to the July 17 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, the task force said it expects preliminary trials of a European version of the system to largely inform related recommendations. All 298 passengers and crew died as a result of the presumed missile strike.  

Upon concluding its third and final meeting, the task force expressed “clear satisfaction” with the progress it achieved in devising a work program packaged for assessment by a wider cross-section of ICAO’s 191 Member States during the UN agency’s high-level safety conference scheduled for February 2 to 5. It also expressed satisfaction with the work performed by its team of international experts on categorizing types of risks to civil aviation over conflict zones to provide guidance to both airlines and states in the future.

“We had a considerable set of challenges put to us when this task force was established, and I am pleased with the excellent results we’ve been able to determine in the short period of time available,” said task force chairman David McMillan. “Those of us in the room understood that flying is still the safest way to travel, but we also recognized the public’s unease where conflict zone risk is concerned.”