On October 8, 2015, in Vancouver, Canada, International Aviation Law Institute Director, Brian F. Havel, joined his aviation law colleague, Professor Alan K. Tan of the National University of Singapore, as joint keynoter for the inaugural Trans-Pacific Aviation Law & Policy Conference hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Initiatives of the University of Victoria, British Columbia. Professors Havel and Tan also engaged in a lively discussion about the economic rise of the Asia-Pacific region and its aviation linkages across the Pacific Ocean with North and South America.
In addition, Professor Havel participated in a panel on the future of aviation emissions regulation, commenting on the potential effects of the forthcoming Paris climate talks on the International Civil Aviation Organization's development of a market-based emissions regulation regime for international civil aviation.
Professor Havel also moderated the conference’s closing panel on the future of Trans-Pacific aviation. That session featured a distinctive mix of topics ranging from the new Trans-Pacific Partnership, to the prospects for an open skies agreement between China and the United States, and finally to the usefulness of near-space balloons as replacements for expensive orbital satellites. The panel included Hao Liu, a former visiting fellow at the International Aviation Law Institute, who now serves as Director of the Aviation Law Institute at Beihang University, Beijing, China.