African aviation should be safe for all: IATA

IATA CEO and director-general Tony Tyler said that, while the trend regarding hull losses with Western built jets heads in the right direction, and even though there have been no hull losses this year with IATA carriers, "aviation must be safe for all airlines and in all regions. And that means we have much work to do in Africa."

In 2005 Africa recorded nearly 10 hull losses per million flights with Western built jets. By 2008 that had been reduced to two. "That was still 2.5 times worse than the global average, but it was a significant step forward. In 2009, the rate jumped back to 9.94 and in 2010 it was 7.41. Two hull losses so far in 2011 put the rate at 4.33 against a global average of 0.37. The trend is once again in the right direction. And there have been no hull losses this year with IATA carriers. But aviation must be safe for all airlines and in all regions. And that means we have much work to do in Africa,"

According to DefenceWeb, in May the European Commission announced that airlines from 15 African countries were banned from flying to the European Union (EU) due to safety concerns. Runway excursions are the biggest safety challenge for Africa, IATA said. Working with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a revised Runway Excursion Risk Reduction Toolkit was produced this year. "For the toolkit to improve safety, it needs to be used - by airlines, air navigation service providers (ANSPs) and airports," said Tyler.

Read the full article on www.defenceweb.co.za.