DISCOVER
What is Model ICAO
Model ICAO is an academic simulation of the International Civil Aviation Organization, held at ICAO Headquarters in Montreal with the organization’s cooperation
The thing that makes it different
It is the only United Nations model held on the premises of a UN organization
That is not a detail of setting. The microphones are the ones delegates use, the interpretation on the screens is the real system, and the people who come to meet you over lunch are the actual representatives of Member States to ICAO. What you learn about multilateral negotiation, you learn in the building where it happens.
For five days, university and college students represent Member States. They sit on technical committees, chaired by internationally recognized experts, negotiate the real files that occupy ICAO today, draft resolutions, and put them to a vote in the organization’s own Council Chamber
Who it is for
University and college students from every discipline — law, political science, engineering, management, international relations, aviation programs. No aviation background is required, and none is assumed.
What the week asks of you is different: the willingness to defend a position that is not your own, and to keep defending it when the room disagrees.
Working in two languages
Plenary sessions are held in English and French, with simultaneous interpretation displayed live on screen. In committee, you work in whichever of the two languages you prefer — and so does everyone else, which means most sessions run in both at once with simultaneous interpretation for the formal sessions of the committees.
Delegates regularly arrive worried about their second language and leave having negotiated in it. The interpretation is there precisely so that language is never the reason someone stays quiet.
All our documentation, guides, and communications are published in both languages.
2026 Ed. - French translation on background
Nine editions, and a tenth
The first Model ICAO was held in 2016. The 2026 edition reached full capacity with 225 participants from some twenty universities and colleges, and more than thirty States have been represented since the beginning.
The 10th edition takes place 3–7 May 2027