Press Releases

1. On March 10 (local time), the representative of the Delegation of Japan to ICAO, Montreal, Canada, together with that of the United States, submitted a letter to the ICAO Secretariat regarding the issue of freedom of overflight by civil aircraft in international airspace and the effective management of civil air traffic within allocated Flight Information Region (FIR). The letter asks the Secretariat for its technical clarification as regards the authority of a State to direct or restrict the operation of the flight of civil aircraft outside of that State’s FIR.

2. On the same day (local time), at the meeting of the ICAO Council, the representative of the Delegation of Japan to ICAO reported the submission of the above-mentioned letter to the ICAO Secretariat and brought up again the issue of the above-mentioned authority of a State.

3. Major member states of the Council expressed their respective support to actions taken by Japan and the United States.

4. The Council took note of the remarks from Japan and other member states.