Summary
- The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has opened its inaugural World Safety and Operations Conference (WSOC) in Hanoi, Vietnam, with a deal with driving safer and more efficient operations in aviation.
- The conference highlights the importance of a positive safety culture and can launch the Safety Leadership Charter, which goals to support executives in growing a positive safety culture inside their organizations.
- The conference can even discuss the transition of the Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) towards a risk-based model to tailor the audit scope for every airline and address their pertinent safety risks. Practical sessions on runway safety, unruly passengers, and pilot training are also included within the agenda.
Last week I attended a CAPA Centre for Aviation Airline Summit in Brisbane, and almost every presentation included the phrase “safety is our primary priority,” be it from an airline CEO, ground handler, airport manager, pilot or cabin crew member.
I used to be reminded of that today when writing about some bogus parts with falsified documents finding their way into industrial passenger aircraft engines. So it’s heartening to see that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) today opened its inaugural World Safety and Operations Conference (WSOC) in Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam.
It’s all about driving protected and efficient operations
The WSOC is the airline industry’s premiere get-together to look at all features of aviation safety, including flight operations, cabin operations and emergency response. The conference theme is “Leadership in Motion: Driving Safer and More Efficient Operations,” and that is the primary time IATA has held a security conference in Vietnam.
Photo: Airbus
Vietnam Airlines is the host carrier for the WSOC, and its President and CEO, Le Hong Ha, is participating on the CEO panel with Philippines Airlines President and COO Stanley K. Ng and IATA’s SVP Operations, Safety and Security Nick Careen. IATA Director General Willie Walsh also stressed that safety is aviation’s highest priority, adding:
“That is reflected within the high levels of presidency participation and the undeniable fact that over 550 safety professionals from roughly 100 airlines, aviation regulators, aircraft manufacturers and other safety stakeholders are in attendance. With its location in the center of Asia and robust economic growth, Vietnam provides an excellent venue for the WSOC.”
In pre-pandemic 2019, aviation, including the spending of foreign tourists arriving by air, contributed $11.7 billion to Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP). In total, 2.5 million jobs, including tourism jobs, were supported by aviation, representing 5% of the nation’s total GDP.
First signatories for the Safety Leadership Charter
On the conference, IATA will launch its Safety Leadership Charter, developed in consultation with its members and the broader aviation community, to support executives in growing a positive safety culture inside their organizations. The charter highlights that having a positive safety culture is critical for developing continuous improvement in safety performance inside a company. It has a set of eight Guiding Principles, including these 4:
- Frequently assess and improve organizational Safety Culture.
- Create an environment where all employees feel responsibility for safety.
- Guide the mixing of safety into business strategies, processes and performance measures.
- Create an environment of trust where employees are encouraged and assured to report safety-related information.
Today, IATA announced the primary signatories to the Safety Leadership Charter, and the list is a whos who of the world’s airline fraternity. From Asia-Pacific, it includes Vietnam Airlines, Xiamen Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas Airways, Hainan Airlines, Japan Airlines, EVA Airways, Philippine Airlines, Garuda Indonesia Airlines, ANA, and Air India.
Middle Eastern carriers include Emirates and Qatar Airways, while United Airlines, Air Canada and Delta Air Lines are the North American presence. The balance includes British Airways, Carpatair, Air Serbia, Ethiopian Airlines, Pegasus Airlines and TAROM.
Photo: Rebius | Shutterstock.
One other critical discussion can be on IATA’s plans to transition the Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) towards a risk-based model somewhat than the one-size-fits-all approach it has taken for 20 years. IATA said that risk-based IOSA delivers an audit scope tailored for every airline and introduces a maturity assessment of the airlines’ safety-critical systems and programs.
The audits will maintain a baseline of safety but deal with each airline’s pertinent safety risks, which IATA believes will increase the audit’s effectiveness and contribute more to reducing actual accident rates. The WSOC agenda includes some more practical sessions on runway safety, unruly passengers, cabin crew health and wellbeing, and pilot training.
What do you concentrate on the state of aviation safety? Tell us within the comments.