African air safety is the world’s worst: IATA CEO comments

IATA chief hits home at safety aspect and urges new partnership between governments and the world aviation body.

Tom Chalmers reports.

SAYING THAT Africa was the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) biggest challenge, Tony Tyler, the association’s new director general and CEO, told d elegatesattending the recent Airlines Association of Southern Africa’s (AASA) annual meeting and conference at the Zimbali resort in kwaZulu-Natal, that the continent’s air safety record was 12 times worse than the global average.

Delivering the keynote address to the conference, Tyler said: “Numbers tell the story. The global industry has one accident for every 1,6-million flights. IATA members have just one hull loss for every four-million flights. In Africa, accidents happen every 135 000 flights.”
Stressing the need for airlines to be registered for the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), Tyler said that 24 sub- Saharan carriers were already on the IOSA register including three non-IATA members. He added: “World-class safety is possible in Africa and IOSA makes a difference. Eighty percent of African accidents between 2008 and 2010 were with non-IOSA carriers.

“Sixty percent of African accidents between 2008 and 2010 were runway excursions. The flight data analysis which identified the top five African airports for unstable approaches, is helping us to focus our efforts to deliver the biggest improvements, and we are working with airlines in Africa and around the world to make the best use of our Runway Excursion Risk Reduction Toolkit.” Later he said: “Certainly South Africa is seen as one of the leaders in African aviation. With this comes a responsibility for government and industry to help drive global standards across the continent. IATA is eager and willing to help effort.”

IATA’s Director General and CEO, Tony Tyler: “The global industry has one accident for every 1,6-million flights. In Africa, accidents happen every 135 000 flights.”

CRITICAL STRATEGIC COMPONENT

Unveiling a new study highlighting the importance of the aviation industry to the economy of South Africa, Tyler urged a new partnership between the government and the aviation industry to maximise the social and economic benefits that a safe, secure, efficient and environmentally responsible aviation industry could deliver. “Last year 21-million people and 240 000 tonnes of freight travelled to, from and within South Africa. Aviation is a critical strategic component of the South African economy and indeed the economies of all states in Southern Africa. But this cannot be taken for granted.

Positive policies are needed to drive aviation’s significant economic benefits,” said Tyler. “IATA partnered with Oxford Economics to assess the benefits of aviation with a goal of informing policy-makers what can be achieved in the broader economy with policies that support aviation’s critical mission to deliver global connectivity. “Aviation directly contributes 2,1% to South Africa’s GDP (R51-billion) and 227 000 high productivity jobs. Including the benefits of tourism into the calculation adds a further R21-billion in economic activity and 116 000 jobs. “Aviation makes a substantial contribution to the government coffers paying R6-billion in tax, including R2,4-billion in VAT and departure taxes,” he said.

IATA’s outlook for aviation in Africa was aligned with a global outlook showing declining profitability, he said, adding: “Global airline profits will fall to $4,9- billion in 2012 which is a margin of just 0,8%. African airlines will be the only region in the red, with a loss of $100- million. A strong partnership between government and industry across Southern Africa is needed to provide a solid foundation for success. “Making the world a better place for airlines to do business drives economic growth and enriches nations with prosperity — both material and of the human spirit.”

FOUR ELEMENTS OUTLINED

Tyler outlined four elements for strengthening the foundations of a sustainable aviation industry, namely: improving safety and security. providing cost-efficient infrastructure and furthering environmental responsibility. Having already dealt with the safety aspect, Tyler switched to security and urged support for the “Checkpoint of the Future”, a vision for risk-based screening taking advantage of passenger data and evolving technology. “We are seeing great support for this vision from the US, the EU and other
governments worldwide. We hope that the Southern African states will also sign on to the key principles for the Checkpoint,” said Tyler.

IATA emphasised its opposition to the development of “red lists” of states that cannot be trusted to participate in the global air transport system. “This is counter-productive and will isolate those states that most need the help of global standards,” said Tyler. Dealing with the infrastructure element, he said that, through Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) and Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS), South Africa had world class infrastructure. “But the 161% increase in ACSA charges allowed over the next five years
is a clear indication that there is much that must be reformed.

“If charges are increased in line with this allowance, South Africa could have the most expensive airports in the world. That is not sustainable and I am eager to engage in a positive dialogue on how we can move forward to make the air transport infrastructure more competitive,” said Tyler. IATA urged three critical steps, namely: Firstly, a review of ACSA capital expenditure — excluding some developments in Cape Town and Johannesburg from the 2013 pricing permission calculation and allocating the proceeds from the sale of the old Durban airport to pay down ACSA’s debt Secondly, the association urged the elimination of differential pricing between international and domestic services and cross-subsidisation among airports, and thirdly, the development of a strong independent regulatory framework for both ACSA and ATNS which included consultation with industry.

ENVIRONMENT

As host of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP 17 talks in Durban last month, South Africa played an important role in developing a global solution to the global problem of climate change. IATA urged South African support for aviation’s ambitious commitments: to improve fuel efficiency by 1,5% annually to 2020, cap net emissions from 2020 and cut net emissions in half by 2050 compared to 2005. “Aviation is responsible for 2% of global manmade carbon emissions.

And we are a global industry with a global strategy to achieve serious emissions reductions in the coming decades,” said Tyler. He urged African governments to keep focused on global solutions for aviation under the leadership of the International
Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). “We support and need positive economic measures to achieve our emissions reduction commitments. But a unilateral regional scheme implemented extraterritorially is not the way to go. “We will need Africa’s support to stop Europe’s misguided approach to bringing aviation into the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS),” said Tyler.

IATA has registered its concerns over South Africa’s plans to include aviation in its economy-wide carbon tax. “This will be a competitive disadvantage for South African carriers and add to double counting of emissions under conflicting measures including the EU ETS proposals, as well as the environment-related departure taxes that are imposed in the UK, Germany, Austria and elsewhere. “This is yet another reminder of why a
global approach through ICAO is the way forward,” said Tyler.