When we think about ECA, what comes to mind is Europe and therefore Brussels. However, ECA has also an important role to play outside of Brussels and is a recognised world safety body, as shown by the many invitations to speak that I have received in the past months. At the beginning of October, I was invited to speak to the IATA AVSEC World 2011 (an international conference on aviation security) in Amsterdam, where I raised the issue of new threats, such as cyber threats, laser attacks, Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear threats (CBRN) and insider threats. We - pilots – also defended strongly the need to differentiate flight crews during security screening at airports.
On 12 and 13 October, the first EU-Russia Aviation Summit took place in Saint Petersburg. I had the privilege to chair the session on aviation safety in Russia and the EU. In my opening speech I thanked the organisers for recognising the important role pilots play in and for aviation safety. Indeed, since the dawn of aviation, pilots have worked together with manufacturers, airlines, airports, air navigation service providers as well as ICAO and other regulators to enhance aviation safety. In this respect, pilots are certainly among the most uncompromising advocates for aviation safety.
Current safety standards are very high but improvements have levelled off in recent years, putting Europe down to the third safest region in the world. If we want to embrace the future expected growth in air traffic, we must raise aviation safety further. If we fail to do this, the number of accidents and incidents will grow in the same proportion – something our industry cannot afford. Safety may be expensive, but accidents cost much more.
This also means, we cannot let commercial or other considerations lower the current safety levels –even if we suffer one of the biggest financial crises in decades and even if competition from outside Europe is growing. Rather than allowing our standards to go down, European decision-makers must strive to raise safety levels globally. The first step to achieve this is to show a good example, join forces with other safety leaders and work through ICAO to achieve highest safety standards across the globe. This would also help to prevent third-country operators from competing with poor safety standards rather than with the best service and commercial offer.
ECA – and our safety experts – can contribute to this and have done so for many years. ‘Piloting Safety’ is our motto and is part of our daily work – be it in the cockpit, Brussels or any other region.
