Montréal’s aviation sector can count another member among its 10 international organizations. The Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) is opening a liaison office in Montréal this fall. It represents the interests of Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs), organisations that oversee all aspects of air traffic management operations.

Eugene Hoeven, CANSO Director, ICAO Affairs, noted that “The structural and institutional changes taking place in the aviation sector requires that stakeholders establish stronger links with ICAO, the UN Specialized Agency. By establishing a presence in Montréal, the CANSO membership has taken an important step to strengthen the relationship between the world’s autonomous ANSPs and ICAO, in support of the objective to achieve a safer, more efficient and harmonised global airspace.”

In 2005, two other major players joined the ranks of the IO community in Montréal: the Airports Council International (ACI) and Cospas-Sarsat. With its 567 members operating over 1,650 airports in 176 countries and territories, ACI realized the importance of establishing a liaison office in Montréal. The voice of the world’s airports will now be heard here. The other organization, Cospas-Sarsat, a governmental IO founded by Canada, France, Russia, and the United States, relocated its headquarters to Montréal after 17 years in London, England. Its Programme, a satellite system that relays aviation and maritime distress signals from the four corners of the planet, has been instrumental in the rescue of over 17,000 lives thus far.