Montreal and Pretoria, July 30, 2025 – Millions of new and skilled professionals address urgent needs to work in the aviation sector, open the sky to young talent around the world, and open the sky to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) in South Africa, brings global aviation leaders to Durban next month for the Landmark Aviation Workforture summit.
From August 12th to 14th, 2025, ICAO and SACAA will jointly hold the 3rd Generation Next Generation Aviation Expert (NGAP) Global Summit 2025 in Durban, South Africa. It provides a global platform for representatives of government, industry, educators, training institutions and youth to coordinate actions, one of the most pressing challenges facing international aviation. Develop a qualified, comprehensive, future-ready workforce to maintain long-term growth and resilience in the sector.
ICAO forecasts show that by 2037, more than 665,000 aircraft maintenance technicians, 554,000 pilots, 922,000 flight attendants and 106,000 air traffic controllers will need to recruit. These numbers only reflect some of the demands of broader and growing talent across many professions that are essential to air transport. South Africa plays an integral role in the African continent with the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), an African Union initiative aimed at creating a unified air transport market across the continent. This direction is strongly supported by the honor of South Africa's Minister of Transport, Barbara Cresee.
“South Africa, together with African partners, is always committed to ensuring that the future of aviation is safe and secure, while also addressing other global concerns such as job creation, improving infrastructure and ensuring environmental protection,” Minister Creacy said. “Platforms such as the ICAO 2025 NGAP Summit are essential for the ongoing global dialogue on aviation issues. Here we can advocate for policies that address the shared challenges.”
The summit also reflects South Africa's commitment to leadership in international aviation, particularly in promoting global workforce development initiatives.
“We believe there are many insights and recommendations that the sector will move forward from the various 2025 NGAP summit deliberations,” said Poppyhoza, director of the Civil Aviation Bureau, SACAA. “South Africa is a major voice in many ICAO platforms on global aviation issues, so we look forward to hosting many of our country's fellow member states and working together on some ideas with our South African counterparts.”
Under the theme of “Flight Plans for Future Aviation Human Resources: Innovation, Education, Inspiration – Building a Future Air Workforce,” the ICAO NGAP Summit highlights aviation training, technology-ready learning, and innovative approaches to supporting young people in the underdeveloped and emerging aviation markets.
This event supports the implementation of ICAO's NGAP strategy. It outlines an integrated collaborative approach to addressing aviation workforce needs in four key areas: advocacy and knowledge sharing, workforce monitoring and forecasting, education and training, capacity building and outreach.
“Every states are interested in ensuring the talent needed for international civil aviation for a safe and resilient future, which is particularly important for some of the world's youth and communities where aviation is a powerful catalyst for sustainable development.” “ICAO has made a global strategic priority for aviation workforce development and this summit is for the implementation of the strategies it has developed to address this challenge.”
Taken together, efforts will raise awareness of aviation career paths, promote diversity and inclusion, better identify emerging skills gaps and training needs, harmonize qualifications, and coordinate with industry demand. It will strengthen human resource planning worldwide with a focus on partnerships between government, industry and academic institutions.
“The ICAO 2025 NGAP Summit will help ensure that the state is not left, benefiting from the opportunities Aviation can offer,” said ICAO Executive Director Juan Carlos Salazar. “ICAO is working with partners around the world to build the infrastructure, training capabilities and education partnerships needed to nurture tomorrow's aviation professionals, especially in countries where investment in people can drive wider transformation.”
Additionally, the NGAP Global Summit 2025 is organized in line with the long-term goals of ICAO's Strategic Plan 2026-2050, which will undertake human development at the heart of global efforts to ensure safety, security, innovation, sustainability and resilience in the sector.
Additionally, the results of this event will help inform deliberations at the 42nd session of the ICAO assembly this September. Here, it is expected that states will negotiate and agree to binding solutions on a variety of related topics.
Resources for editors
NGAP Program
About ICAO
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and its 193 member states develop and implement global aviation strategies, technical standards and capacity building activities to enhance the safety, sustainability and inclusiveness of aviation services around the world. ICAO's mission is to advance towards aviation aviation deaths and net zero carbon emissions, while expanding access to air transport. This year, the organization is celebrating its 80th anniversary.
media.lelations (in) icao.int (Media (dot)Relationship (at)icao (dot)int)
LinkedIn
Media Contact
William Raylan Clark
Communication Officer
wraillantclark (in) icao.int (wraillantclark(at)icao(dot)int)
