Aviation safety is a shared responsibility built on mutual trust, collaboration and cooperation.
Seoul, Korea – More than 185 safety professionals from thirty-three Asian airlines and related industry stakeholders were gathered in Seoul, Korea last week for the Asia Pacific Aviation Safety Seminar 2018 (APASS 2018). This leading regional safety forum is dedicated to delivering ever higher standards, with airline specialists meeting with industry stakeholders including regulators, airframe manufacturers and service providers. The event was organised by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) and hosted by Asiana Airlines.
APASS 2018 focused on key industry safety priorities and discussed the challenges resulting from growth, lessons to be learnt from mitigating commonly recognised risk factors and the effective use of data in safety management. The seminar included practical workshops addressing specific safety topics including human factors, decision making, fatigue, SMS implementation and cabin safety, allowing participants to discuss practical solutions, safety threats, and innovative solutions.
The two-day seminar was hosted by Asiana Airlines, and strongly supported by Airbus, Boeing, Aireon, Aerobytes, ASQS, CAE, Millennium Seoul Hilton, Ideagen, MITRE, Pratt & Whitney, Singapore Aviation Academy, Southpac Aerospace, and Teledyne Controls.
Welcoming delegates, Captain Yamamura Akiyoshi, Senior Executive Vice President & CSO, Asiana Airlines said, “Cooperation amongst airlines, and the cooperation between airlines and the government are of the utmost importance for safety, and for minimizing the impact of external environmental changes. The theme “Team up for safety” for this AAPA Seminar seems to be a very timely topic.”
Keynote speaker Mr. Stephen Creamer, ICAO Director of the Air Navigation Bureau said, “We have to continue to work together to highlight the benefits of proactively sharing safety information, and changes to ICAO Annex 19 will provide additional safeguards regarding the use of such information.”
Mr. Creamer continued, “Another benefit we believe will arise from the shift to performance-based oversight is the opportunity to innovate in environments that are facing rapid growth or challenging airspace or airport configurations.”
Delivering his opening remarks, AAPA Director General Mr. Andrew Herdman said, “Flying today is extraordinarily safe. On a daily basis, we are all collectively responsible for the safety, security and welfare of 11 million travelling passengers. This remarkable achievement is a direct result of good teamwork, close cooperation and mutual trust between regulators, airlines and other industry stakeholders.”
Mr. Herdman continued, “The travelling public places a high degree of trust in our commitment to further enhance the safety of air travel. We must continue to learn important lessons from accidents and other safety related incidents, and the growing volume of operational data, to improve our processes and procedures and further enhance safety performance.”
Mr. Herdman concluded, “Safety is an issue that demands constant vigilance and the AAPA is fully committed to work with regulators and other industry stakeholders to support the initiatives and efforts that deliver further improvements across the region.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
