The International Air Transportation Association (IATA) declared that the number of airline CEOs committing to the IATA Safety Leadership Charter has reached 73. This strengthens aviation’s existing safety culture, which helped 2023 produce some of the best outcomes ever, with no deaths recorded among IATA member airlines or the airlines on the IATA Operational State Audit Registry.
Insights from the IATA AGM 2024
The gathering held on June 2-4, hosted by Emirates (EK), was the first of its kind in Dubai and brought together over 1,500 participants from over 330 airlines based in 120 countries. Strategic partners, original equipment manufacturers, suppliers, and media representatives attended the event.
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IATA’s General Director, Willie Walsh, said,
“Strong leadership and strong safety culture are interdependent. And both are needed to drive continuous improvements in safety performance. By putting their names to the IATA Safety Leadership Charter, 73 airline CEOs have set an example for their airlines and for the industry. The Charter is a call to action that keeps in focus the critical obligation of airline CEOs to lead a safety culture that keeps their passengers and staff safe”
Nick Careen, Senior VP Operations, Safety and Security, IATA, praised the drive and commitments of aviation leaders that have made air transport the safest means of transportation.
He also stated that,
“Signing this charter honors the achievements that should give everyone the highest confidence when flying and sets a powerful and timely reminder that we can never be complacent on safety.”
IATA Annual General Meeting 2024
One more step towards safety
IATA members and the broad aviation community sought advice throughout the development of the IATA Safety Leadership Charter. The initiative intends to assist industry leaders in fostering a culture of safety within their organizations by focusing on eight key leadership concepts:
- Reinforcing safety with words and actions.
- Fostering safety awareness among employees, the leadership team, and the board.
- Guiding the integration of safety into business strategies, processes, and performance measures.
- Creating the internal capacity to proactively manage safety and collectively achieve organizational safety goals
- Creating an atmosphere of trust where all employees feel responsible for safety and are encouraged and expected to report safety-related information
- Establishing a working environment in which clear expectations of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors are communicated and understood.
- Creating an environment where all employees feel responsibility for safety
- Regularly assessing and improving an organizational Safety Culture.
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IATA has developed a three-pillar approach that includes the following in order to help the industry perpetually improve safety performance:
- Safety Leadership (including both safety leadership and culture),
- Safety Risk (identifying and mitigating risks through data collection and analysis from audits, accident reports, and other sources)
- Safety Connect (providing the links so that safety leaders can report, discuss, and resolve safety issues).