This week saw the signing by the International Air Transport Association (Iata) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore of a memorandum of collaboration to establish a global Safety Predictive Analytics Research Centre (Sparc).
According to Iata director general and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac, the centre will use predictive analytics to identify potential aviation safety hazards and assess related risks by leveraging research capabilities, operational flight data and safety information available under Iata’s Global Aviation Data Management initiative.
End users will then be able to work at the system level to address and implement appropriate safety measures to mitigate risks and even prevent the occurrence of safety hazards.
“Safety is aviation’s highest priority and all stakeholders are committed to making flying even safer,” said De Juniac. “However, as the number of accidents declines, we need to take a system-based, data-driven, predictive approach to preventing accidents, including analysing the more than 10 000 flights that operate safely every day.”
He noted that in the coming months, the Sparc project team would be working closely with industry and stakeholders to develop safety predictive models to ensure that the output generated would meet the industry’s current and future needs.
