26 African states comply with global aviation rules

• Continent progresses in safety

There are indications that only 26 African countries out of 54 who are signatory to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) convention are regulating their country’s aviation in accordance with the global aviation regulatory body’s Standard and Recommended Practices (SARPS),Woleshadarenews has learnt.

IATA declined to list the 26 airlines and those that are yet to comply with the SARPs. Nigeria is however, not part of them as an IATA chief who pleaded anonymity, said Nigeria has complied 100 per cent with ICAO SARPS.

In a statement available to our reporter by the Director-General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Alexandre de Juniac, IATA said African governments must accelerate the implementation of ICAO’s safety-related standards and recommended practices.

“In parallel, African governments must accelerate the implementation of ICAO’s safety-related standards and recommended practices (SARPS). As of year-end 2017, only 26 African countries had at least 60 per cent SARPS implementation. They also should incorporate IOSA into their safety oversight systems,” said de Juniac.

ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS) are technical specifications adopted by the ICAO and its council in accordance with Article 37 of the convention on international civil aviation in order to achieve the highest practicable degree of uniformity in regulations, standards, procedures and organisation in relation to aircraft, personnel, airways and auxiliary services in all matters in which such uniformity will facilitate and improve air navigation.

Meanwhile, IATA in a released data for the 2018 safety performance of the commercial airline industry shows continuing safety improvements over the long term, but an increase in accidents compared to 2017.

The world turboprop hull loss rate was 0.60 per million flights, which was an improvement over 1.23 in 2017 and also over the five-year rate (2013-2017) of 1.83.

All regions except for Middle East-North Africa saw their turboprop safety performance improve in 2018 when compared to their respective five-year rates.

Accidents involving turboprop aircraft represented 24 per cent of all accidents in 2018 and 45 per cent of fatal accidents.

For a third consecutive year, airlines in sub-Saharan Africa experienced zero jet hull losses and zero fatalities in jet operations.

The all accident rate was 2.71, a significant improvement over the rate of 6.80 for the previous five years. Africa was the only region to see a decline in the all-accident rate compared to 2017.

However, the region experienced two fatal turboprop accidents, neither of which involved a scheduled passenger flight.

“We continue to progress in the region toward world-class levels of safety,” de Juniac said. “But, despite improvement, there is still a gap to cover in the safety performance of the continent’s turboprop fleet. Global standards such as the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) are making a difference. Counting all accidents, the performance of African airlines on the IOSA registry was more than twice as good as non-IOSA airlines in the region.

“In parallel, African governments must accelerate the implementation of ICAO’s safety-related standards and recommended practices (SARPS). As of year-end 2017, only 26 African countries had at least 60 per cent SARPS implementation. They also should incorporate IOSA into their safety oversight systems.”

The IATA chief said in 2018, the all accident rate for airlines on the IOSA registry was more than two times lower than that of non-IOSA airlines (0.98 vs. 2.16) and it was more than two-and-a-half times better over the 2014-18 period. All IATA member airlines are required to maintain their IOSA registration.

He noted however, that 2018 IOSA calculations are impacted by the fatal accident involving a Global Air aircraft that was leased, along with crew, to Cubana.