Hello all! Unfortunately didn't have the opportunity to create one of these threads last year due to COVID restrictions forcing the cancellation of the UNGA meetings. Anyway, hope everyone has been safe and healthy these past 18 months (it's really been that long).
I wanted to start this thread really early this year because, despite the event still expecting to occur, UNGA will look different from years past.
First of all, the only in-person meeting at the UN this year will be the General Debate. All other meetings will be virtual. This will give leaders more flexibility as to when they can arrive into and leave New York.
Secondly, the UN is asking that any delegation who does decide to attend bring as few members as possible, meaning that only the head of state and maybe a couple other members of government will be coming. This likely means that we won't be seeing our usual parade of 20 Qatar Amiri jets, and instead we'll see two or three (if even that many). Brazil, Kuwait and Turkey are some of the other nations that usually bring three or more aircraft a year.
Lastly, and most importantly, the UN has given the option for its members to deliver their General Debate speeches through a pre-recorded video, which some leaders have already agreed to do, including, as of August 19, the Iranian, Egyptian, South African and 35 other heads of state. This likely means that those delegations will not come at all to New York, so we wouldn't be seeing any of their planes.
However, it does look like many countries are still expected to come to New York for the annual conference, including Japan, France, the UK, Australia, the US, Turkey, Venezuela, Israel and India. I can say that one of these delegations is confirmed to be coming with an official flight scheduled, though I can't reveal who and when just yet.
All of the information I received about protocol for this year's event as well as the attendance roster is from this article... https://www.thehindu.com/news/intern...le35990324.ece Gotta give credit where due!
A couple new government jets have been delivered since 2019, including Albania's A319 ACJ (TC-ANA, which is being leased from the Turkish Govt), Germany's A350 (10+03, which I believe equals 13), Israel's 767-300 (4X-ISR), Senegal's A320NEO ACJ (6V-SEN) and Uzbekistan's Dream)liner (UK001). Additionally, P4-CLA, Comlux's 767-200, got a fresh new paint job the week after UNGA 2019. They usually operate for some African country, so wouldn't be surprised to see it again this year. If anyone knows of any other new jets, please add them to the thread!
If I receive any more information regarding who will and won't be attending, I will definitely update.
T minus two weeks. Hope everyone's excited!