Comment
Airlines filling gap in safety oversight
October 1st 2016
Safety is every airline’s absolute priority. And in this region, the news is good. There were no fatal commercial jet accidents last year and none so far this year. Read More » But the industry must still deal with the fact that some Asia-Pacific regulators are not meeting the required standards of oversight.
An example is the disappointing fact that more than half of the nations of the Asia-Pacific have not reached the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) target of 60% for effective implementation of safety oversight.
But even where there is weak or non-existent regulation and regulatory oversight, the industry delivers an exemplary safety record, said the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines director general, Andrew Herdman, in Tokyo last month. “So that points to the fact that regulatory oversight is essential, but not having it is not a show stopper,” he said.
Herdman agreed bad apples had to be weeded out and regulatory rules followed. His point was that the industry is safe because airlines themselves place a great deal of focus on safety.
Many carriers in the region have seconded dozens of their own personnel to some of Asia’s regulators because these emerging countries cannot attract, pay and retain qualified pilot/inspectors to staff their regulatory bodies.
But the fact remains that in a region with huge momentum in air traffic growth, regulators have to rethink the way they monitor and regulate air safety. They must strive to get past that 60% target put in place by ICAO. In a region of our wealth, this should not be happening.
