By Dominick Andoh| Africa makes progress on aviation safety but challenges remain – IATA | The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called on African airlines and stakeholders to keep working to improve the safety record of airlines on the continent.
Africa made significant improvements in safety from 2020 to 2023, experiencing no hull losses or fatal accidents during this time. However, there was a setback in 2024.
“Even in 2023, the hull loss rate for turboprop aircraft in Africa was the highest in the world. This indicates that there is still work to be done to enhance safety,” stated Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General, at the opening of the AFRAA Annual General Meeting currently ongoing in Cairo, Egypt.
The IATA Safety Leadership Charter provides eight principles aimed at standardising a global approach to safety culture in each airline.
Some 118 airline CEOs have signed, fourteen of which are in Africa. While that is a significant number, with 37 IATA members and 65 IOSA airlines in the continent, there is scope for more to join. If you have not yet signed, I encourage you to do so.
“An increased willingness to share data is an important outcome of an effective safety culture. The more data we can bring together, the more powerful the insights we can draw from it. Along with encouraging “you to sign the Safety Leadership Charter, I also ask that airlines not yet contributing their data to the Global Aviation Data Management (GADM) initiative to do so. GADM has become a powerful analytical tool to improve safety. And if you participate—at no cost—you will also get access to rich data that can enhance your safety performance.
“With such actions, our call on governments to adopt and effectively implement global safety standards grows stronger. That is important in Africa, where the AFCAC website shows that some 20 AFCAC states have not met AFCAC’s own 60% implementation threshold for ICAO SARPS. That’s not good enough. And it is also not good enough that we are still waiting for final reports from 38 accidents in Africa investigated under Annex 13. We cannot let governments in Africa—or anywhere for that matter, forget their crucial responsibilities to implement ICAO SARPS and complete accident reports in a timely manner,” Mr Walsh added.
AviationGhana | Africa makes progress on aviation safety but challenges remain-IATA
