The International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) has appointed aviation industry specialist Andreas 'Andy' Meyer as its new director, ICAO liaison in Montreal. Director general Kurt Edwards comments: “Andy's broad aviation expertise, his business aviation experience and his understanding and familiarity with ICAO after working there for seven years will be invaluable in his new role with us at IBAC. We are excited to have him join our team and wish him great success as we continue our mission to represent business aviation's best interests at ICAO and around the world.”

In this role, Meyer will direct the operations of the IBAC office in Montreal, co-located with ICAO headquarters. He will be IBAC's designated representative to ICAO overall and will serve in particular as IBAC observer on the Air Navigation Commission, the highest-level technical body at ICAO. He will also design the IBAC strategy and approach to ICAO in coordination with Edwards, as well as coordinate among the IBAC representatives at ICAO forums and expert groups and make recommendations to Edwards regarding matters before ICAO.

Meyer adds: “I have always admired the important work being done by IBAC as a non-profit organisation, and now I will have the honour of representing and leading our efforts to further grow and protect the industry.”

Meyer holds an Air Transport Pilot licence and aviation qualifications as instructor pilot and CRM trainer with 9,500 total flight hours. He has a degree in Natural Sciences, holds a MSc in Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management from the University of Leicester, has a certificate in Cybersecurity from Harvard and is a researcher on social and cultural aspects of risk, crisis and disaster management.

Prior to joining ICAO, Andy was managing director of the International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations for two years. In addition to his military career, his business aviation and flight operations experience include instructor and pilot leadership roles with Gulfstream and ExecuJet.

In 2013 he joined ICAO's integrated safety management section as resident operational safety expert supporting safety intelligence activities. Later, he started supporting the development of ICAO's newly established safety information monitoring service and in 2016 assisted in the development of the ICAO Crises and Rapid Response Programme. As of August 2017 he was appointed ICAO aviation cybersecurity officer.