Focus on airline safety in spotlight
Published: 6/06/2011 at 12:00 AM
The global commercial aviation sector is being pressed to abide by its claimed commitment to safety by ending the economic sanctions that are affecting the safety levels of a number of commercial airlines.
A report issued after the first Meeting of Directors' General of Civil Aviation for the Middle East region in the UAE last March said: "With the goal to mitigate the negative safety impact of the financial sanctions against ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) Contracting States, the Meeting of Directors' General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in the Middle East recommends that ICAO addresses the negative impact of sanctions to aviation safety as a serious concern."
Emphasising that "the effects of the embargoes should be looked at from a safety point of view and not from a political point of view," the report said.
"The meeting recommends that the ICAO Contracting States address this ban for the sake of the aviation safety as a whole."
Although both safety and security are top-line discussion issues in the global aviation sector today, the issue of sanctions is equally relevant to the growing backlash against global geopolitical double standards that are victimising developing countries, especially those that are targets of Western regime-change agendas.
The aviation sector is being forced to spend billions of dollars to boost security against terrorism as well as enhance safety to ensure continued confidence in aviation as a vital means of global transport. However this commitment does not seem to apply when it comes to meeting the geopolitical interests of the United States.
A paper presented to the DGCA meeting by Sudan exposed this loophole thus: "There are a number of different and unrelated ways in which aviation safety has been compromised due to US embargoes issued in the form of Sanctions Regulations." It outlined clearly how these sanctions take their toll on aviation safety.
Transshipment of imports is prohibited and essential spare parts are not made available to the aviation industry in the banned countries. Commercial dealings handled by financial institutions are prohibited. Affected countries are unable to procure air navigation service equipment to aircraft engine spare parts and maintenance arrangements.
New aircraft cannot be purchased from the US or any aircraft that contains US parts. Manufacturers and aviation companies, fearful of facing sanctions themselves and other "possible consequences," have refused to provide services and give safety-related information.
This impacts on safety, communications and normal financial dealings with firms involved in the aviation industry. Banned states are unable to comply with current airworthiness codes of practice, the report said.
However, because the targeted countries still have to find other ways of keeping their aviation sectors operating, aviation companies are forced to circumvent national laws and are obliged to register aircraft outside the original State of the Registry.
The report said that registrations are changed unnecessarily due to difficulties in complying with maintenance responsibilities. Commercial Air Transport Operations are leased to foreign operators in accordance with foreign regulations.
It said: "All sectors in the country are struck by this negative effect, but some of them affect human lives by compromising safety in the civil aviation systems. The industry of banned Contracting States has been diminished to the absolute minimum, with lower standards and lower level of safety."
Calling for the sanctions "to be removed at a global level," the Sudanese report said, "it is important for all stakeholders to have a better understanding of this problem, thus properly representing their concerns about global aviation safety. Unintended human suffering and fatalities maybe the result of sanctions."
Sudan stressed that, to their understanding, the embargoes apply only on military equipments and support services. It was also noted that the Arab Civil Aviation Council had presented a Working Paper to the ICAO General Assembly on the negative effects of the US Sanctions on aviation safety.
In its final report, the DGCA-ME meeting concluded: "The meeting strongly supported the working paper and the Statement presented by Sudan and was of the opinion that this is a complex, delicate and sensitive issue which had a number of implications rather than safety alone.
"The meeting emphasised that the effects of the embargoes should be looked at from a safety point of view and not from a political point of view. However, since the matter was raised during the ICAO 37th General Assembly, where it was brought to the attention of the ICAO president of the council, whose "good offices" had been involved in this issue on previous occasions, the meeting requested the ICAO secretary general to bring this matter once again, to the attention of the President of the ICAO Council for his intervention on the subject."
The issue is also of relevance to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents the world's leading airlines. The association will be convening today in Singapore for the annual general assembly.
Although IATA, too, claims to be putting safety first, there is no evidence it is drawing the line between safety and politics. A request to IATA seeking comment went unresponded.
Credit: Bangkok Post (www.bangkokpost.com)
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