Safety Information Centre

The Safety Information Centre project aims to establish the world’s most important address for all safety derived strategies.
It will offer access to data shared by IATA member airlines and eventually, from other sources. The most challenging element is to establish an analysis group to transform the data into usable, relevant information. The project’s scope is currently being finalised. This process includes the help of external parties that may eventually be partners in the project.

STEADES, IOSA data and FDA will become integral elements of the Safety Information Centre. It is promising that STEADES membership is rapidly increasing. In 2008, the number of airlines sharing their safety reports increased from 60 to 76.

FDA for Free

IATA’s Flight Data Analysis (FDA) service uses tools to unlock the value of airlines’ flight data and improve safety and operations efficiency. In an effort to improve safety in Africa, the FDA service will be delivered for free to a maximum of 30 airlines in sub-Saharan Africa. This region consistently has the highest number of accidents and FDA offers the airlines the possibility to have an objective overview of their flight operation. The output of FDA can be used in several ways, the most important being the ability to detect patterns that endanger the flight in order to amend them. Secondary benefits include efficiency gains in terms of maintenance and fuel use.

The participating airlines will be selected for their ability to use the output of the FDA process effectively. The aim is to offer these airlines a learning experience that will clearly show the benefits of FDA both in terms of safety and efficiency.

IATA’s 2007 Safety Report is available on the IATA.ORG website

The “H” Word

Some things are just in the air. In politics, in fashion, in nature, seasons and trends follow each other, each time bringing something new. It is interesting to examine what’s “in the air” in security and facilitation. In the last decades the industry’s rallying call has been around harmonisation. This year, the OPS Forum Security track has put the “H” Word into perspective. Still, is it really what we want? Read more...

US-VISIT’s Air Exit Programme

DHS has published a proposed rule that would force airlines, instead of US government officials, to collect and transmit fingerprint biometrics for the 33 million foreign visitors that depart from the United States each year. Read more...

The Indian API Saga Continues

With a stated deadline for implementation on 1 April 2008, many carriers providing international service to and from India are growing increasingly concerned over the mixed signals and confusion surrounding India’s looming Advance Passenger Information programme. Read more...

World Cargo Symposium Cargo Security Track

The 2nd annual World Cargo Symposium took place in Rome 3-6 March. The theme was Focus on the Customer: Dialogue to Deliver Simplicity. The goal was (and remains) to "turn talk into action". Read more...

API: Success for a Change!

For more than a year, we in the industry have been inundated by government-imposed requirements for provision of passenger data in ways that are not consistent with internationally agreed-upon standards and best practices.
Read more...

EU/TSA Transport Security Coordination Group, 10 March 2008

IATA coordinated the Aviation submission to the joint Aviation, Land and Maritime Stakeholder sessions of the 6th TSCG bi-annual meeting, which was held in Brussels on 10-11 March 2008. Read more...

Foreign Operators Specification

The ICAO State Letter was distributed a short while ago and the revision of Annex 6 is in due course. IATA is working on all fronts in all regions to ensure a harmonised implementation and prevent further national deviations.

Flight Operations

The Standard Computerised Aircraft Performance Task Force (SCAP) and Aircraft Performance Task Force (APTF) are extending their areas of interest to include Aeronautical Information Service/Aeronautical Information Management (AIS/AIM). SCAP will extend their realm of expertise to include programming issues for the electric flight bag, a topic of importance to the overall AIS programme, 13-14 May.

IATA has taken the initiative to supply high-resolution imagery to its member airlines. These initiatives will help airlines to develop fuel-efficient RNP and RNAV procedures that will also reduce their C0₂ footprint and will enhance safety margins, improve take-off and landing frequency and thus shorten gate-to-gate times. Given the exorbitant price of geospatially-derived data, IATA has evaluated a data/cost-sharing scenario - an important element of operational efficiency.

Visits completed: Continental Airlines and Delta Airlines
Upcoming visits: US Airways, American Airlines and UPS

Environment

The environment is one of IATA’s top priorities. There are numerous initiatives IATA is working on to improve operations and reduce the negative impact on the environment. We are building the way for a better future and fuel is definitely a hot topic including fuel efficiency and alternative fuels. Read more on fuel efficiency...

Fuel Efficiency Programme

• Three Green Team assessments were concluded in Europe in April with good results.
• One implementation has started for a European carrier in April.
• Boeing and Jepessen joined the IATA Green Team project as a partner.

ITQI Gains Momentum

The ITQI initiative raised awareness and gained significant momentum globally. IATA teamed up with key industry stakeholders including airframe manufacturers, ICAO, IBAC and the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF). Their contribution will provide the prerequisite for broad industry recognition and acceptance. Read more...

Alternative Fuel

IATA’s main alternative fuel vision focuses on Sustainable Biojet Fuels. These fuels do not cause higher food prices, water depletion, deforestation or other heavy environmental impact. The sources from which alternative fuels are produced are biomass and sustainable biomass. Biomass is considered to be carbon neutral because it consumes CO₂ during its growth. Some biomass resources currently under consideration are; forest residues, agricultural residues, industrial residues, municipal waste and sustainable grown biomass (like algae or jatropha). The required technologies for the production of jet fuels are available, however, a lot of work need to be done. Further improvement in market accessibility, technology, social acceptance and production capacity as well as environmental impact studies need to be completed before the world is introduced to sustainable biojet fuels.

Russian Approval

The 5th meeting of the Cross-Polar Work Group met in early April regarding airspace planning for Russian Far East and polar operations. IATA was able to gain Russian approval to use 36,000 feet (FL360) for westbound operations from North America to Asia. In the past, only FL300, FL320, FL340 and a too high FL380 were the only available altitudes. Additionally, IATA was able to present convincing legal argument, stating transitions to Russian metric altitudes should occur inside the Russian flight information region (FIR) while over international waters. This important acknowledgement should allow future transitions off the North Pacific (NOPAC) routes to join Russian Far East tracks, which could not be done in the past due to the requirement to transition to Russian altitudes while still in NOPAC airspace.

Africa

IATA and ASECNA announced an agreement to combine efforts to improve safety, service levels, efficiency, cost effectiveness and infrastructure in Africa. The agreement includes training on:

• SMS and English language proficiency: to improve Air Traffic Control (ATC)
• Service levels: to improve efficiency
• Charges: to improve transparency
• Infrastructure: to support the Automated Intelligence File (AFI) Air Navigation Plan and Selective Identification Facility (SIF) and to promote surveillance plans such as Automatic Dependant Surveillance- Contact (ADS-C) and Automatic Dependant Surveillance- Broadcast (ADS-B).  

Asia/Pacific

Airlines in the Asia/Pacific region have some of the most modern fleets in the world equipped with the most modern avionics and navigation systems. Therefore, priority work areas for the IATA regional office are concentrated on maximising the use of these onboard systems. Examples include: Performance Based Navigation (all phases of flight), User Preferred Routings (primarily in the Pacific region) and ADS-B surveillance.

IATA and the Indonesian government work together on IATA’s Partnership for Safety Programme (PfS) to improve airline operating standards and safety in Indonesia.

Europe

A Eurocontrol programme initiated by IATA to implement Continuous Descent Approach (CDA) at almost 100 regional airports until the end of 2009 will result in significant fuel savings, emissions and noise reductions. Read more…

The first phase of SESAR, the master plan for all ATM developments in Europe from now until 2020, has been finalised.
Read more…

The European Commission will approve its Single European Sky Package 2 in June 2008 to drive the functional blocks of airspaces and performance of the European ATM network, reacting on increases in air traffic and environmental challenges. Read more…

On 31 January 2008, EASA’s remit was extended to cover Air Operations and Flight Crew Licensing. Read more…

Latin America and the Caribbean

• Brazil’s ANAC stated that Brazilian flag air carriers operating scheduled international service will have to be IOSA registered on or before 1 January 2009. Any carrier unable to obtain such registration will not be eligible for international flight authorisation.
• IATA completed an apron optimisation study at Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos Airport and provided recommendations to increase aircraft parking capacity. Proposed increases in parking charges have been postponed until at least November 2008 when the implementation of the recommendations should be completed and the need for pricing mechanisms eliminated.
• IATA was able to postpone indefinitely a proposal by the Cuban immigration authorities to require additional data elements concerning the country of residence of passengers entering Cuba. Cuban authorities had requested implementation of these non-standard API elements within 15 days.

MENA

• 17-18 May - Multi-Crew Pilot Licence (MPL) Forum 2008 will be held in Aqaba, Jordan, organised by IATA (among others). We expect substantial interest from airlines in the region. With the current and foreseen expansion of fleets, MPL will play a key role in ensuring an adequate supply of qualified flight crewmembers.
• 26-27 May - IATA will take part in a seminar on civil/military coordination, held under the auspices of the ICAO office in Cairo. Currently, our highest priority within the region is to ensure sufficient infrastructure to cater for the current explosive air traffic growth. Cooperation between civilian and military authorities in terms of airspace utilization will be crucial to the successful achievement of route expansion. Two important events will occur soon in the MENA region.

North America

JFK Airport
Simultaneous instrument approaches to runways 31L and 31R were implemented at New York's JFK Airport. This is one of the 23 short-term initiatives supported by IATA and approved by the DOT ARC for implementation during 2008. CO₂ emission savings are estimated at 11,659 tons.

Visual Separation in Canada
NAV CANADA announced their intentions to introduce visual separation procedures for departures on a trial basis at Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto International Airports. This was in response to a NAV CANADA Best Practices Work Group recommendation, which includes stakeholders from ATC, controllers unions, pilots unions, airlines and IATA. Visual separation, a voluntary procedure that is unlike traditional IFR separation standards, has greater flexibility but is subject to controller and/or pilot initiative and technique. Furthermore, the procedure itself has its strengths and weaknesses when applied in mixed fleet environments. The initial airlines’ responses were everywhere from “we can’t live without it” to “it’s totally unsafe”. Consequently, Transport Canada has put the trial procedure on hold pending further investigation and consultation with IATA. We will work through our Operations Committee to provide a consolidated industry position and recommendations to strengthen the procedure and NAV CANADA’s understanding to the needs of the international operator.

North Asia

IATA has been working with Chinese authorities since 2006 to open an Olympics bypass route, which was implemented on
10 April with designator B208. Europe-to-China flights will benefit from this route by saving about 60 NM in distance and by minimising ground delays in Beijing (PEK), Shanghai (SHA), Guangzhou (CAN) and Hong Kong (HKG). The estimated annual CO₂ reduction will be 82,672 tons. PVG 3rd RWY was implemented on 25 March 2008, which increased traffic volume and reduced ground delays at the airport. IATA is organising a briefing for carriers on 14 May.