Main Story: 71st IATA AGM
Some airlines may not meet ICAO’s revised tracking deadline
July 1st 2015
After several unique air accidents that have taken hundreds of lives in the last 18 months, efforts to maintain the highest air safety levels have been redoubled, but it has emerged some IATA members will struggle to meet the 2016 deadline for upgraded tracking standards. Read More »
The November 2016 deadline for improving global aircraft tracking over remote areas will require all airlines to report the positions of their aircraft fleets every 15 minutes.
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| IATA director general and CEO, Tony Tyler: November 2016 ICAO tracking rule “might be a bit early for full implementation” |
That date “may be a bit early for full implementation”, IATA director general and CEO, Tony Tyler, said at a press briefing during this year’s IATA AGM.
Many newer aircraft have equipment that can be tracked by satellites, but older aircraft do not, raising questions about the capability and cost of systems those planes will need.
Tyler said there is significant public pressure on the industry to find speedy solutions to safety issues as they arise.
But he would prefer that airlines and policy makers continue to rely on long proven systems on safety, including careful investigation of incidents before introducing revised safety regulations.
“As accidents become ever rarer, it is clear sustainable future gains will come from a systemic, data-driven approach to safety that builds on continuous improvement, supported by cooperation and partnership among safety stakeholders.
“A global perspective that develops standards through the sharing of expertise is vital to this strategy. While we must always try to be ready for the unexpected, future safety gains will come increasingly from analyzing data from all flights, not just the infinitesimal percentage of flights where something goes wrong.”
IATA director of safety, Rodolfo Quevedo, said position updates could be made by radio and initial trials of tracking technology are in the works. The cost of upgrades remained unclear, he said, and IATA would like to see the results of trials before committing to a deadline.
Earlier, ICAO president, Olumuyiwa Aliu, said: “I want to reassure you that I am very sensitive to the financial and operations burden that this represents for you as flight operators,” he told IATA AGM delegates.
Most of the world’s major airlines, including Malaysia Airlines, which suffered the loss of two aircraft, their crew and hundreds of passengers last year, have taken steps to track their aircraft more frequently.
Emirates Airline president, Sir Tim Clark, said he knew where his planes are all the time. “They spew data down through ACARS (Aircraft Communication And Reporting System).
“While that’s expensive, and more difficult when out of radar coverage, you don’t lose a plane for seven hours,” he said.
IATA released preliminary aviation safety performance data, to March 31, at the AGM.
It showed the global jet accident rate (measured in hull losses per one million flights) was 0.38, the equivalent of one accident for every 2.6 million flights.
This was an improvement over the five-year rate (2010-2014), when the global hull loss rate stood at 0.45, but above the full year 2014 rate of 0.23, which was the lowest in aviation history.
Tyler said the industry was so reliable that relatively small variations in safety, from year to year, can skew the numbers. He added the safety performance over one quarter is insufficient to come to any conclusions.
“However, as the data fits within the five-year trend of improvement, it reassures us that the industry strategy is driving us in the right direction,” Tyler said.
