Priorities in European aviation safety policy

ETSC, together with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), hosted a transport safety lunch in Brussels on 13 September 2006, to discuss on a European strategy to keep the highest air safety level while air traffic is expected to double by 2020. Only then will air transport remain the safest mode of transport.

Further raising air safety standards

Patrick Goudou, Executive Director at the European Aviation Safety Agency reminded how important it is not to relax previous efforts to raise the air safety standards. The good results are never guaranteed. In 2005, for instance, there was an increase in the number of accidents. The key word is "vigilance", especially as transport increases. The appropriate air safety rules need to be drafted, implemented and enforced.

Extending EASA's competences

Jörg Leichtfried, Member of the European Parliament, presented the main challenges facing the extension of competences of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), currently under discussion within the EU institutions. Mr. Leichtfried has been appointed rapporteur on this dossier within the Committee on Transport and Tourism of the European Parliament.

The EASA should continue to fulfill the important role of raising EU safety standards in accordance with Regulation 1592/2002, according to Mr. Leichtfried. The higher standards should also serve as good examples for non EU countries. EASA's coordination role should encompass the following four activities: 1) airworthiness certification, 2) aircraft operations, 3) flight crew licensing, 4) third country aircraft licensing. EASA should be able to enforce compliance with these standards through the use of sanctions if necessary against member states or the industry. "The success of such a strategy lies in the details", Mr Leichtfried said. Also, safety has a price. The Parliament will discuss who should bear the burden of such a price, and whether the cost will mainly be paid through taxes or fees paid by passengers and/or industry. The current legislative proposal is not expected to be adopted in first reading, due to the numerous amendments already made to the document. A first adoption of the report is expected by January 2007, while the process goes parallel at the Council.

An industry perspective on EASA

Peter Sørensen, Assistant Director at the International Air Transport Association (IATA), reminded that however good these measures are, they will only be efficient through effective implementation. Most importantly for air operators, they need to have a strong European leader and a harmonised European approach to regulate safety in order to guarantee an undistorted market. Whilst indicating that the SES and SESAR initiatives are seeking resolve fragmentation issues within the ATM field, he highlighted EASA's role as the European coordinator for all safety-related issues. Hence, IATA supports EASA's extension of competences and is also in favour of the broadening of EASA's enforcement powers: "Potential offenders need to feel that they will be punished by a single, strong European aviation safety regulator if they don't comply with the rules". Mr. Sørensen also fully supports the development of a roadmap, aligned with ICAO's 'Global Aviation Safety Roadmap', that enables the sharing of data across Europe, the sharing of best practices and development of common solutions through a data-driven approach. Moreover, initiatives should in no case be unnecessarily multiplied. Again, a European actor of the importance of EASA would be essential to fulfill that purpose.

European airlines and operators also need to improve air safety

Roberto Salvarani, Head of the environment and air safety unit at DG Tren, emphasised the recent success to coordinate air safety at the European level with the publication of the first black lists. But he also stressed that EU operators are not spared from being listed, although the list has so far only included non EU operators. "While newcomers continue entering the liberalised market of air transport, there is a need for a strong safety net to stop companies and operators which present a risk to air safety", said Mr. Salvarani. The extension of EASA competences in the field of OPS, licences and certification of third countries operators constitutes the prevention leg of the EU safety net. The Commission relies firmly on the EP to support the rapid adoption of its proposal. Further areas of development at the European Commission are expected to concern the cooperation with Eurocontrol, the occurrence reporting, and also, if proven to become a serious problem at European level, the fights against illicit trafficking of aircraft spare parts.

Choosing the right way to successfully raise standards

Michel Piers, Manager of the Safety and Flight Operations Department at the National Aerospace Laboratory of the Netherlands, stressed that EASA's main role is to identify the successful long-lasting measures. For instance, the expected 5% yearly increase in air traffic could be accompanied by a similar target rate of yearly safety improvement. Moreover, Michel Piers proposes the following three measures: 1) to enhance our ability to understand why and how safety-nets fail sometimes. This could be possible, for instance, by adding a Directive to establish a voluntary occurrence to the already existing one on mandatory occurrence reporting; 2) to develop the appropriate measures in the area of air traffic management to prove that the advanced integrated air traffic management concepts are actually also safer. "An inadequate capability to formally predict and prove safety performance will impair the ability to design safety into the system from the beginning", said Mr. Piers, "and may eventually bring the SESAR programme to a halt at a late stage"; 3) to improve the extent to which agreed safety enhancements actually get implemented. The US way of dealing with aviation safety might be a potential source of inspiration for Europe as concerns the implementing phase. "The US Commercial Aviation Team (CAST) has set a clear understanding and commitment both from the authorities and from the industry that approved safety measures that will bring improvement to air safety are actually implemented". Mr. Piers therefore concluded that the EASA should equally keep its clear position of establishing a European Safety Initiative that is a true Government-Industry partnership.

EASA to become the one-stop-shop for European aviation safety

Philip von Schöppenthau, Secretary General of the European Cockpit Association (ECA), pointed out that the European Union's rate of fatal accident only dropped by 25% (comparing the period of 1995-1999 to 2000-2004) whereas the US achieved an improvement of 43%. "This is food for thought.

Any European aviation safety strategy should be reminded that safety is often not just a technical matter but also very much a human one." Moreover, with the increase in competition in the commercial transport market and the uneven level of effective safety oversight from one national authority to another, some operators might feel encouraged to search for the most lenient national regulators as they look to reduce their costs - risking to jeopardise safety.

For Mr. von Schöppenthau, EASA therefore has to become the one-stop-shop for European aviation safety, quality, certification, rulemaking and standardisation, including OPS and Flight Crew licensing. Keeping the human side of flight safety in mind, ECA sees a role to be played by EASA to increase the quality of pilot training Europe-wide and to make sure that any new measures introduced to answer market's needs (for instance the Multi-crew Pilot Licensing) are not developed to the detriment of safety. Another role of EASA is to work towards reducing the risk of pilot fatigue. The new EU-OPS rules on flight time limitations are a first step into the right direction. But there are important safety holes remaining, and it will be up to EASA to include scientifically proven safety thresholds into the new rules. In addition, a revision of the Directive on occurrence and incident reporting should be envisaged as voluntary reporting on non-serious incidents is underperforming. The system will only work if the ones who report are protected against prosecution; otherwise crucial safety improvement information will simply not be reported.

Finally, Mr. von Schöppenthau reminded the participants that "the safety debate is increasingly overshadowed by cost and commercial considerations" Safety costs money, but it is an investment. "If you think safety is too expensive, just try out an accident".

ETSC warmly thanks the EASA which, through its support, contributed to help ETSC fulfilling its objectives.