Cape Town Convention Academic Project
A pillar of AWG’s education work on the cape town convention, including compliance, is through the Cape Town Convention Academic Project (CTCAP).
The CTCAP is undertaken under the joint auspices with the University of Cambridge and UNIDROIT. The CTCAP operates within the Cambridge Faculty of Law through the Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law.
The CTCAP provides for academic study and assessment of the Cape Town Convention, seeking to advance the understanding and effective implementation of, and compliance with, the treaty.
The CTCAP is strengthened by the inclusion of related joint projects on:
(1) economic assessment of international commercial law reform, and
(2) best practices in the design and operation of electronic registries.
AWG is the founding sponsor of CTCAP. Its secretary general, acting in his academic capacity, co-directs the project with, professor Louise Gullifer, Cambridge, and Ignacio Tirado, secretary general of UNIDROIT.
The project advances its purpose by reporting on and providing analysis of cases and administrative actions designed to assist in the proper interpretation and compliance with CTC. It develops academic and educational materials.
The project holds a major yearly academic conference. It is widely considered the leading cape town convention related event. Its hosts a mix of leading academics, professions, government officials, and industry leaders in detailed assessment of treaty issues.
The project publishes the CTC journal, linked to the above conferences. It is open access, available on-line and at no cost.
The CTCAP website can be viewed at www.ctcap.org.
CTC international moot court program
Cape Town Convention academic project (CTCAP) has created the Cape Town Convention (CTC) international moot court program (CTC moot court).
The purpose of the CTC moot court is to familiarize students and judges with CTC in the context of complex hypothetical fact patterns and to provide students with educational exercises involving these instruments in a simulated judicial setting. The CTC moot court has operated in two phases. The first phase focused on cross-border litigation. The second phase, which began in 2025 focused on cross-border insolvency.
Training materials for the CTC moot court can be found here.
Past CTC moot courts or related judges’ dialogues
| Region | Dates |
| Brasilia, Brazil | 15 and 16 June 2023 |
| Cambridge, UK | 26 September 2023 |
| Singapore | 7 November 2023 |
| Montreal, Canada | 6 March 2024 |
| New York, USA | 2 April 2025 |
| Dublin, Ireland | 24 June 2025 |
| Abuja, Nigeria | 12 November 2025 |
The CTCAP, which facilitates the study of CTC, operates under the joint auspices of UNIDROIT and the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law. The Aviation Working Group is the founding sponsor the CTCAP.
AWG-ICAO workshops
Building on longstanding cooperation between AWG and ICAO joint regional workshops for civil aviation authorities on CTC and cross border transferability (‘XBT’) have been held. These workshops focus on critical areas of cross-border transferability of aircraft and compliance with CTC. There have been three such workshops held in Bangkok, Thailand (2024);Dubai, UAE (2025); and Lima, Peru (2026).
MOU with Insolvency Law Academy (India)
AWG and India’s Insolvency Law Academy (ILA) signed an MOU to frame our cooperative working arrangements in 2026.
ILA is the thought leader on insolvency and bankruptcy in India. Its members and participants play key roles on the theory underlying, and operation, practice, and regulation of, the India Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (as amended, the IBC).
Detailed consultations and work throughout 2025 led to this MOU, which will immediately be built upon. AWG and ILA are at work on a contemplated joint memorandum on reasoned best practices, interpretation, and recommendations to achieve the objectives of both the IBC and the Cape Town Convention and its Aircraft Protocol (as implemented in India, CTC), addressing practical items which may arise in an airline insolvency in India, and ensuring CTC’s place as a specific law is respected in a manner which gives prevailing effect to its terms in the limited areas of conflict with the IBC yet does so in a manner designed to enhance the efficiency and efficacy of IBC proceedings.
ILA and AWG will also work in accordance with the MOU on education, socialization, and policy to achieve the above objectives.
Technical note: We use the phrase ‘cape town convention’ or ‘CTC’ to mean the convention on international interests in mobile equipment and its aircraft protocol. Where needed, the ‘convention’ and ‘protocol’ are referred to individually.