Civil Aviation is incredibly important to the world we know and love today, and it touches all of us in ways we cannot realize. When you order a package overnight from Amazon, odds are good that it’s being transported from their warehouse to your front door in the hold of a cargo plane. When you travel across the country or even around the world to join friends and relatives for vacation or holiday celebrations, you’re travelling on a craft that got its start in the minds of Orville & Wilbur Wright.

But air transport can be perilous, and the International Civil Aviation Organization focuses on the safety, efficiency, and regulations surrounding the entire industry. ICAO organized International Civil Aviation Day in 1944 and began a campaign to have it become an officially recognized UN holiday, a campaign that would finally see its fruition in 1996. Civil Aviation includes everything from sports fliers to large commercial aircraft traversing the sky with the essentials of daily living.

International Civil Aviation Day was established in 1994 as part of ICAO’s 50th anniversary activities. In 1996, according to an ICAO initiative and with the assistance of the Canadian Government, the United Nations General Assembly officially recognized 7 December as International Civil Aviation Day in the UN system.

The purpose of International Civil Aviation Day is to help generate and reinforce worldwide awareness of the importance of international civil aviation to the social and economic development of States and of the unique role of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in helping States to cooperate and realize a truly global rapid transit network at the service of all mankind.

Every five years, coinciding with ICAO anniversaries, the ICAO Council establishes a special anniversary theme for International Civil Aviation Day. Between these anniversary years, Council representatives select a single theme for the full four-year intervening period. The Council has decided that from now until 2023, the theme will be:

“Advancing Innovation for Global Aviation Development”.

Civil aviation represents all non-military aviation. It includes flight activities conducted by the private and commercial sectors. Civil aviation helps to improve the social and economic development of States. The United Nations recognizes that international flight is also an important component of global peace and prosperity.

Countries throughout the world hold a variety of events on this day. Some of these include air shows, educational seminars about aviation, and special airport tours.

Celebrating International Civil Aviation Day can happen in several ways, from the simple joys of ordering a package the night before and opening it up the next day with the appreciation that it was carried in the belly of a great cargo plane, to booking a flight to an exotic location to celebrate the speed and efficiency with which we can cross the globe. Throughout the country, there are also aviation museums dedicated to aviation, and there’s some great history to learn by strolling those august halls.

So get out there on International Civil Aviation Day and see what the plane has brought to your life!