Comment
Inspector shortages pose safety challenges
October 1st 2012
Last year was the safest on record for the world’s airlines, including carriers from the Asia-Pacific. So far, this year has been even better. Read More »
But no one is sitting back basking in the success. It is clear the air safety regime faces urgent challenges in coming years.
One of the most serious is the real threat, which already exists at many of the region’s regulators, of a critical shortage of safety inspectors to maintain oversight on an estimated 12,030 aircraft expected to join airline fleets in the next two decades, according to a Boeing forecast.
The problem for the industry is that airlines suffer financially from regulatory inadequacies. In Indonesia and the Philippines, lack of oversight led to a European ban on Indonesian airlines and the U.S. downgrading of the Philippines, barring its airlines from adding U.S. destinations or putting new aircraft on routes.
Regulators have a genuine problem. Their inspectors are generally civil servants on pay scales significantly lower than equivalent private sector jobs. Some governments have sought to solve the problem by seconding personnel from their national airlines, but that won’t eliminate all shortages.
Balancing this massive forecast growth with effective oversight was a major topic at last month’s Asia Pacific Aviation Safety Seminar (APASS) in Ho Chi Minh City, organised by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA).
As our story on page 18 reveals, a senior executive from the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) told delegates finding and keeping inspectors was a serious problem. It has had, at times, only half the inspection staff it requires. The good news is the CAAV, along with the help of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), has acted to solve the problem.
Together, they went directly to the country’s president and prime minister and convinced them action was required.
The result: the pay of CAAV inspectors – currently up to a third of the salary paid to an equivalent professional at an airline – is to be doubled.
This is the sort of action which needs to be implemented across the region if qualified inspectors are to be attracted and retained by regulators.
It’s not the only issue for air safety, but it is a critical one if safety oversight of the region’s burgeoning fleets is to be maintained at the required level.
