The UK Civil Aviation authority, France's Bureau Veritas and Germany's Air Eurosafe have signed an agreement creating a new group to promote aviation safety worldwide.
The three organisations have agreed to pool their expertise and resources to support the air-safety work being carried out by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and European Civil Aviation Conference. Air Eurosafe has been established as a European Economic Interest Grouping and is based at the European Joint Aviation Authorities headquarters in Hoofdorf, Amsterdam.
"The aim is to help countries without their own civil-aviation authority to respect ICAO rules on the licensing, operation and maintenance of their aircraft fleets," says Bureau Veritas aerospace-division vice-president Alain Chapgier. "We will send teams to countries which need assistance to arrive at safety standards equivalent to those in well-regulated Western countries on a non-profit basis," he adds.
Chapgier says that the initiative is intended to provide a "European alternative" to the services offered by the US Federal Aviation Administration, which he says has "hegemony" over advising countries on compliance with international air-safety standards.
Source: Flight International
