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IATA calls for global tracking of aircraft

IATA has called on the aviation industry to “make a safe industry even safer” by developing a better way to track aircraft following the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 March 8
flight MH370 March 8.

Speaking at the IATA OPS conference in Kuala Lumpur, IATA DG and CEO Tony Tyler said governments and industry should focus on partnerships, data analysis and runway safety. He also committed IATA to formulating a unified industry position on global tracking of aircraft.

Tyler announced IATA’s plan to convene a task force, including input from ICAO, to “examine all of the options available for tracking commercial aircraft against the parameters of implementation, investment, time and complexity to achieve the desired coverage.” The group will report its conclusions by December.

MH370, a Boeing 777-200 with 239 people on board, was on a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The search for the aircraft, believed to be in the south Indian Ocean off the coast of Perth, continues.

“Accidents are rare, but the current search for MH370 is a reminder that we can never be complacent on safety,” Tyler said. “In a world where our every move seems to be tracked, there is disbelief both that an aircraft could simply disappear and that the flight data and cockpit recorders are so difficult to recover. Air France 447 brought similar issues to light a few years ago and some progress was made, but that must be accelerated. We cannot let another aircraft simply vanish.”

Tyler also said governments need to make more effective use of passenger data. “Airlines are not border guards or policemen,” Tyler said. “The checking of passports is the well-established responsibility of governments. The industry … [ensures] that governments have reliable information about passengers before an aircraft takes off [via] advance passenger information. Governments need to review their processes for vetting and using this data, such as Interpol’s stolen and lost passport database.”

Tyler said governments should “harmonize” passenger data collected by airlines utilizing ICAO standard elements; eliminate collecting passenger and cargo data via paper forms; and “create a single harmonized window through which airlines can submit electronic data to governments.”

“Accident investigation will continue to play a key role in safety, but with fewer accidents, it becomes increasingly difficult to produce trend data which is so important in managing safety,” Tyler said.

IATA calls for global tracking of aircraft | Associations content from ATWOnline