Civil Aviation Authorities in Southeast Asia collaborate on regional safety initiative
October 22, 2024
Civil Aviation Authorities (CAAs) from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand agree Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to boost aviation safety throughout the region.
The regional aviation safety data and information sharing initiative will enhance aviation safety by helping to identify safety hazards and trends as well as build mitigation measures to better manage safety risks. The initiative was first mooted at the inaugural Asia-Pacific Summit for Aviation Safety held in Singapore in 2023 and is “expected to be a pioneer followed by all states in the Asia-Pacific region,” according to Syamsu Rizal, director of air navigation, DGCA of Indonesia.
The signing of the MoU by leaders from the five respective civil aviation authorities was witnessed by Salvatore Sciacchitano, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) chair and Juan Carlos Salazar, ICAO secretary general, as well as the organisation’s Asia-Pacific regional director, Ma Tao.
The civil aviation authorities in all five States have agreed to share seven categories of data and information in the first instance. The categories include: traffic collision avoidance; deviations from air traffic controller assigned altitude; ground proximity warning system or terrain awareness and warning system; severe turbulence; windshear; birdstrikes; dangerous goods incidents. All states have also agreed to protocols to safeguard data confidentiality. Under the MoU all states agree to cooperate and regularly share safety data and information from reports of safety occurrences. While Thailand has been appointed the data custodian, Singapore will be the data analyst for the initiative.
Han Kok Juan, director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) described the initiative as “significant in having States agree to share their respective safety data and information so that we can achieve better safety outcomes for all.”
He reaffirmed the hope that this first-of-its-kind initiative in the region “will have a catalytic and demonstrative effect and we can onboard more countries to work together to ensure safer skies for the travelling public.”
