CASA media release - Friday 9 May 2008
Future aviation trends and safety risks identified
A new report by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority has identified the local and international trends expected to influence Australian aviation safety over the next three to five years.
The trends relate to unprecedented global demand for aviation services, manufacturing and technological developments, increased security and greater environmental awareness.
Issues identified in the report will feed into industry/CASA working groups and will contribute to the development of the Government’s National Aviation Policy or White paper, which was announced in April 2008 by the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Mr Anthony Albanese: National Aviation Policy or White paper announcement
CASA CEO Bruce Byron says that identifying future trends will help the Australian Government, CASA and the aviation industry mitigate potential risks to safety.
“It is no longer acceptable to rely solely on incident or accident data in an attempt to predict future risks to aviation safety,” Mr Byron says.
“A range of representatives and organisations contributed to the report and were asked to consider the greatest safety risks the aviation industry will need to address over the coming three to five years.
“Participants were asked to look beyond organisational level issues and instead consider matters of a ‘whole of industry’ nature, focusing on the priority area of passenger-carrying operations.
“The most consistently identified broad trends were global demand for aviation services, environmental change awareness and initiatives, aircraft, systems and technology and international instability and security.
“While it is appropriate for CASA to address some of the risks identified in the report, a number of the issues will require an industry-wide approach.
“The industry/CASA working groups will be a valuable input to the Government’s aviation policy development process announced in April.
“The business of identifying real safety solutions – where action is not already underway – will be the focus of future work.
“While Australia continues to enjoy a world-class aviation safety record, we must remain vigilant.”
The full report is available on the CASA website:
An assessment of trends and risk factors in passenger air transport