Recommendations Based On "Transparency" and "Information
Sharing"
A high-level Safety Conference hosted by the International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) opened Monday in Montreal.
Attendes stressed the need for greater transparency and
sharing of safety-related information among ICAO Member States and
air transport industry stakeholders as the basis for a new global
strategy to significantly improve aviation safety around the
world.
In his opening address, the President of the Council of ICAO,
Roberto Kobeh González, said that while the number of fatal
accidents and associated fatalities had consistently dropped over
the past decade or so, despite an increase in traffic, it is
essential to reduce regional differences in safety that continue to
exist.
“Our task is now to develop and implement more flexibility
and targeted strategies to help States with specific challenges in
reducing their accident rates and thereby contribute to an even
safer global air transport system, while at the same time
reinforcing safety in others,” he told a group of some 600
Ministers and Directors General of Civil Aviation of ICAO Member
States, as well as industry stakeholders, at the
Organization’s headquarters in Montréal.
Mr. Kobeh called for the Conference to agree on ways to
complement the Organization’s prescriptive-based methodology
with a proactive, performance-based approach to help reduce
accident rates from their present levels. “The new way of
doing business will allow proactive identification and response to
emerging safety issues before they result in accidents or
incidents,” he explained. “This involves understanding
the risks associated with the many facets of today’s complex
aviation system through transparency and sharing of
information.”
In the first presentation of the Conference, ICAO Air Navigation
Bureau Director, Nancy Graham, detailed progress made against the
Organization’s Global Aviation Safety Plan’s three
major objectives.
The first is a reduction in the number of fatal accidents and
related fatalities worldwide. Graham said significant progress was
made as fatal accidents involving civil aircraft over 5,000 pounds
(usually seven passengers or more) declined from 26 in 2000
to 14 in 2009, while the number of fatalities over the same period
dropped from 955 to 654.
The second is a significant reductions in the global accident
rate. At approximately 4 accidents per million flights and 0.062
fatal accidents per million flights, rates are low but
unfortunately stable given the anticipated increase in traffic in
the coming decade and beyond, which could translate into a
potential increase in accidents.
And the final objective is that no region would have an accident
rate more than double the world average. Graham said that
significant variances remain unacceptably high, with one region
over twice the global average.
The international news service AFP reports that Graham said that
overall, the number of accidents had been consistently about 4 per
million flights, and with air travel expected to grow, the goal
should be to cut that number in half.
To meet that goal ICAO members are expected to vote on tough new
measures against states which fail to meet safety standards,
including stripping companies of their airline code, meaning they
would be unable to fly on most international routes.
The conference will conclude Thursday with the expected adoption
of recommendations on the next steps for global aviation safety.
Among them, AFP reports, is the ability for the ICAO to pull
airline codes from companies that don't meet safety standards,
effectively grounding them on international routes. "Our task is
now to develop and implement more flexibility and targeted
strategies to help states ... in reducing their accident rates,"
said ICAO council president Roberto Kobeh.