African Airlines Starting to Put Safety First

By Eddyson Lugangwa Posted 26 October 2006 @ 01:21 pm EET     Print     Reprint     E-Mail     Comments

Nairobi (IBTimes.com) - At least 25 of the 29 African member airlines of the global airlines lobby group the International Air Transport Association (Iata) are in the process of completing operational audits, a key indicator that most governments in the continent have now begun to take air safety seriously.

Iata represents 261 major airlines. This represents 94% of all global air traffic.

Africa's poor air safety record has prompted the United Nations' civil aviation watchdog, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (Icao), to put pressure on the continent's aviation regulators to increase safety oversight of their commercial and general aviation industries.

Icao announced last year that it would conduct unsolicited safety audits on countries that had mediocre aviation safety records, particularly in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Iata said that although Africa accounted for only 4% of global air traffic, its accident rate was six times higher than the world average.

The Geneva-based organisation said it was encouraging to see some African states such as Egypt and Madagascar incorporating operational Iata safety audits into their safety oversight programmes.

In a statement released yesterday from Geneva, Iata director-general and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said: "Longstanding and reputable African airlines are having their images tarnished by fly-by-night operators that have made Africa's safety record the worst in the world.

"A responsible industry cannot tolerate even a few governments that don't take safety seriously," he said.

Bisignani praised South African Airways, Kenya Airways and Comair, which operates British Airways, and kulula.com in SA, for having completed their operational safety audits.

He said six sub-Saharan member airlines had been audited by the end of September this year and eight others had signed an audit agreement. About 11 others were in the process of selecting or signing on an official independent auditor.

He said safety improvements on the continent were critical and the organisation was encouraged that almost all of its member carriers had established pro- cesses to address the matter.

"Governments must also do their part by investing in infrastructure that is sorely lacking in many parts of the continent and by putting an end to flags of convenience."

Iata said that from 2008, all airlines would need an operational safety audit certificate in order for them to be granted membership of the organisation.

"We are no longer in the numbers game," the organisation said. The African Civil Aviation Commission (Afcac) said recently that it was considering exposing airlines that did not have operational safety audit certificates. It said of the 34 fatal accidents that occurred worldwide last year, 13 of them took place in Africa.

Afcac president Tshepo Peege said countries with weak regulators would be named and airlines would be advised not to fly there. "Safety has always been significant in a passenger's choice of airline, much higher than the cost of an air ticket," said Peege.

"No one wants to board an aircraft as a passenger and arrive as cargo," he added. According to both Iata and Afcac studies on airplane crashes last year, most of the tragic incidents involved old aircraft made in the former Soviet Union.

Iata said other factors included human error, bad weather and poor safety management systems.