Iata calls for single safety strategy for Africa

Africa needs to formulate a single, coherent safety strategy and follow it through on an agreed timescale. That’s the message from Guenther Matschnigg, International Air Transport Association senior vice president, safety operations and infrastructure, who says that while safety statistics for the continent improved in 2010, they were still more than 12 times the world average. The poor safety record is attributable to a number of factors, he says. “It is about the safety culture, a lack of resources, the need for skilled personnel, poor infrastructure and inadequate safety oversight.” An area where progress has however been made relates to runway excursions. “These are particularly high in Africa,” he said. “In 2009, in conjunction with Flight Safety Foundation, Iata released a Runway Excursion Risk Reduction toolkit. “More than 8 000 copies have been delivered to airlines worldwide and the information was backed up by 12 global workshops in 2010.” The result, he says, is that Iata members have reduced their runway excursion accidents by 43% since 2008. But there is more work to be done. The main focus, Matschnigg says, must be coordination. “The United States Department of Transport has had a Safe Skies for Africa programme in place for a number of years. Iata itself has done a lot of work as has the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the European Union. And there is a plethora of organisations in Africa working on a country, regional or pan-continental basis.” But Africa, he says, needs one action plan and a strong commitment from all parties, including African carriers. “They must get involved and buy into the one action plan concept,” he said. Cobus Toerien, manager flight safety for South African Airways, quoted in Iata’s latest Airlines International magazine, comments: “Safety issues involve all the carriers operating in the same airspace. Iata has helped enormously but we must continue to emphasise a safety reporting culture.” And one action plan does not mean one size fits all, says Matschnigg. “There could be a modular approach, allowing the strategy to be tailored to individual needs.”