David Learmount/LONDON
FOREIGN AIRLINES are to face tougher safety surveillance when they enter European airspace because of an agreement by the directors-general of the 33-member European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) to raise safety standards. This follows a similar decision by European Union ministers early in March.
Collection of safety-related data on foreign aircraft flying to European airports will start immediately, using the European Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA). The information will be shared among the member states, and an implementation programme will be agreed at the June meeting of the ECAC.
The European programme will harmonise with a US Federal Aviation Administration, international aviation safety-assessment programme, which has been in operation since 1992.
The European programme will benefit from increased safety-oversight activity by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), according to JAA secretary-general Klaus Koplin.
FAA sanctions imposed in 1995 on countries failing to meet the international safety-oversight standards affected several nations, particularly in Latin America, restricting services to the USA, and in some cases halting them until the country complied with the standards.
The Europeans seem unlikely to take the same route. Koplin says that the ECAC's intent is to use "discussion" rather than impose sanctions on countries.
The different approach is largely a result of contrasting ways of negotiating bilateral agreements. The USA includes a safety requirement in all its bilateral aviation agreements. European states do not, preferring to rely instead upon mutual adherence to ICAO standards.
Source: Flight International
