As part of the Focus Africa initiative, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is establishing the Collaborative Aviation Safety Improvement Program (CASIP) to reduce the accident and serious incident rate across Africa.
The program’s launch partners include the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States, Boeing, and the Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA).
Together, the CASIP partners will prioritise the continent’s most pressing safety concerns and marshal the necessary resources to resolve them. The economic and social benefits of enhancing aviation safety in Africa will be felt throughout the continent.
“Improving aviation safety will play an important role in Africa’s overall development. Safe, efficient and reliable air connectivity is a major driving contribution to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In that sense, CASIP will make it clear to governments across the continent that aviation must be prioritized as an integral part of national development strategies. With such broad benefits at stake, we hope that other parties will be encouraged to join the CASIP effort,” said IATA Director General Willie Walsh.
Effective application of global safety standards is the foundation for safety improvement. A key indicator at the government level is the efficient implementation of ICAO Standards and Recommended Practises (SARPS). In 2022, only 28 of 54 African states will have an effective implementation rate of ICAO SARPS of at least 60 percent, according to data.
Concurrently, CASIP participants will
- Identify operational safety deficiencies and implement corrective action plans
- Provide continent-wide safety training and seminars
- Promote a data-driven approach to safety performance with a focus on providing safety data to decision-makers and assuring efficient accident/incident reporting
Walsh commented that improving safety efficacy is Africa’s top priority. And IATA does not need to reinvent the wheel in order to achieve the desired outcomes. In Latin America, collaborative safety teams have demonstrated that safety increases when government and industry collaborate to implement global standards. By pooling their resources, the partners will have a greater impact on areas where risk can be reduced, leading to quantifiable improvements in safety.
