Cover Story
Poor pay key to inspector shortage
October 1st 2012
There is concern air safety regulatory bodies in the Asia-Pacific will struggle to find enough qualified inspectors to maintain proper checks on the huge increase in aircraft to be delivered to the region in the next two decades. Many, like Vietnam, already are. Read More »
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| 'We don’t want to go down the privatization route where we have profit-motivated regulators' |
| Andrew Herdman Director General AAPA |
Inspectors are mostly on civil service pay scales, significantly lower than in the private sector, making it extremely difficult to attract recruits or lure professionals away from airlines.
Small numbers of inspectors are not only responsible for oversight of airlines, they also have to check flying schools, airports and other industry players.
The issue was a major topic of debate at the Asia Pacific Aviation Safety Seminar (APASS), organised by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) and hosted by Vietnam Airlines in Ho Chi Minh City last month.
Just how serious the situation has become was illustrated by Kim Trethewey, chief technical advisor of the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Co-operative Development of Operational Safety and Continuing Airworthiness Programme, Southeast Asia (COSCAP SEA), who gave delegates an insight into the results of ICAO safety audits in the region.
“In this region you go everywhere from 100% effective oversight to 10% effective oversight,” he said. “But the bulk of the key areas within this region are in the vicinity of 50%-60% from the standpoint of personnel and the ability for them to do their oversight.”
Andrew Herdman, director general of the AAPA, said critics of Asia point to the fact there are glaring disparities in regulatory oversight in the region. “If you tell the average member of the travelling public, who has absolute faith in the safety of air travel, and with good reason, don’t worry about the fact that people are scoring 50% or 60% on a safety oversight scorecard, they would be worried. I would be worried,” he said.
One problem was the perception that Asia lags Europe and North America when it comes to safety, which was not the case, added Herdman.
This perception has led to a situation where the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) “have taken it upon themselves to act as global policemen in terms of enforcement of safety oversight.
“The problem we have with that as airlines is although they are [taking action] against regulatory oversight they are targeting airlines to apply pressure,” he said.
Some Indonesian airlines remain on a European black list and the Philippines has been reduced to a Category 2 classification by the FAA, in both cases because of lack of aviation safety oversight by regulators.
There have also been reports that India, understood to be suffering a severe shortage of inspectors, is in danger of being downgraded by the FAA later this year.
Alan Foo, director of safety policy and licencing at the Civil Aviation Administration of Singapore (CAAS) - a statutory body not tied to government pay scales - said regulators across the region had their work cut out for them.
Singapore faced growth pressures similar to others, with the number of aircraft movements at Singapore Changi International Airport rising from 200,000 in 2005 to 300,000 today, much of it due to the growth in low-cost airlines.
“There are many challenges, including congested airspace, manpower shortages and the strain on oversight resources,” said Foo.
“The challenge of a strain on safety oversight resources is going to be tough for regulators as we have to compete with airlines and industry for manpower and expertise. Unfortunately for the regulators government remuneration often cannot match what is available in the wider industry.”
Herdman said the disparity in salaries between governments and airlines is widening, particularly in developing countries. “We need to think about how we narrow that gap. This a big, big challenge,” he said.
Privatization of the regulator was not the answer, warned Herdman. “We certainly don’t want to go down the privatization route where we have profit-motivated regulators,” he said.
“These need to be governed bodies, but having them separated as corporate entities means they can have different pay scales and not be subject to the overall government budgetary framework. The money is available there either through channelling it from passenger service charges or having certification costs. It’s got to be paid for.”
Foo explained the CAAS became a statutory body in 1984. “We don’t have to tie ourselves to government pay structures. Because of that we are able to offer more competitive salaries, especially to our flight operations inspectors,” he said.
“Of course, the question is where do the funds come from? The CAAS adopted the model whereby we recover this from the aviation system. The passenger services charge is split in two. Part of that is used to fund the regulator.
“You can separate into a corporate entity, but you have to think through the funding model.”
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam’s (CAAV) director flight safety standard department, Ho Minh Tan, said the authority was working towards a full cost-recovery system similar to Singapore.
“We are working with the finance ministry to increase our fee collection so we will have the budget to cover our activities,” he said.
“We have had 15 years without any accidents. We said if we want to maintain that record we need to make these changes. That is how we convinced government give us a special salary structure.”
Foo said regulators needed to collaborate more, share expertise and work towards avoiding duplication of inspections. Civil aviation authorities not only inspected their own country’s aircraft, but those of arriving foreign airlines, which resulted in the same inspections being conducted multiple times.
This could be avoided if states accepted each other’s approvals, said Foo. “If you reduce duplication it will allow states to shift their focus to other safety priorities,” he said.
ICAO’s Trethewey agreed. “None of us can afford to be duplicating the work that others are doing,” he said.
But a country would not stop the inspections of foreign operators unless it was confident the oversight was strong, he added.
ICAO, said Trethewey, was looking at how to convince states to accept each other’s approval.
… but Vietnam doubles inspectors’ pay
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| Vietnam’s seat capacity has risen 400% in a decade |
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has been given the go-ahead by its government to double the salaries of its air safety oversight inspectors in a bid to boost numbers.
The CAAV has had as few as half the number of inspectors it needed to check the fleets of its fast-growing carriers, according to CAAV’s director flight safety standard department, Ho Minh Tan. It was forced to second staff from national carrier, Vietnam Airlines.
Speaking during a panel session at the Asia Pacific Aviation Safety Seminar (APASS), in Ho Chi Minh City last month, Ho said like many regulatory bodies in the region, the CAAV had been concerned for some time about its ability to maintain proper oversight.
Flight inspectors pay in Vietnam was “as much as a half to a third” of that of a similar professional working for an airline, said Ho
In the past decade, the number of airlines operating in Vietnam has increased from two to five. Passenger numbers have risen 15% to 20% annually, with overall growth of 320%, said Ho.
“In 2001, we had 28 aircraft on our registry and now there are more than 90 with a seat capacity increase of 400%. We see air traffic growth in the next 10 years doubling,” he said.
An International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) audit revealed the CAAV did not have enough inspectors. Ho said ICAO and the CAAV appealed to the Vietnamese government in a series of meetings, including meeting the president and prime minister, to help rectify the situation.
“The good news is that from next year we will have the budget to employ three or four more full-time inspectors because we have approval from the government,” said Ho.
The CAAV also worked with a U.S. consultancy firm to enhance the country’s safety oversight capability.
