Aviation Safety Plans for Middle East

The Middle East Aviation Safety Summit concluded in Abu Dhabi on Jan. 23 with planned establishment of a safety team to implement the recommendations of the Global Aviation Safety Roadmap (GASR) drawn up by the International Safety Strategy Group (ISSG). The Middle East Safety Team will be comprised of industry and government stakeholders from across the region and will be co-chaired by government and industry partners on a rotational basis to ensure appropriate regional representation. Mohammed Abdullah Al Salami---elected the Safety Team's first chairman---said “the Abu Dhabi Summit draws a line in the sand for aviation safety in the region. Our priority will be to ensure that air safety in the Middle East becomes a paradigm for others to follow. Workshops held during the Summit identified a number of crucial steps to achieving this goal including regulatory oversight and a cultural change that encourages transparency and incident reporting. We will also be addressing the chronic shortage of aviation professionals, providing training for existing personnel in safety management systems, the lack of qualifications of safety managers and auditing third party providers such as air navigation services,” said Al Salami. He said that a number of initiative will be aimed at emerging risks, such as the advent of super large aircraft, aging aircraft and the rapid growth of aviation to include unmanned aerial vehicles.