Honolulu, Hawaii, October 29, 2008 — The more than 300 aviation safety professionals attending the 61st annual International Air Safety Seminar (IASS) received an update on progress in worldwide implementation of the Global Aviation Safety Roadmap. The briefing was presented by R. Curtis Graeber, Director, Regional Safety Programs, for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
The Roadmap was developed by the Industry Safety Strategy Group in cooperation with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to provide a process to prioritize and coordinate safety initiatives worldwide, to ensure their consistency and reduce duplication of effort.
Graeber provided information about four highly successful Roadmap-implementation workshops held earlier this year:
- Hosted by the United Arab Emirates civil aviation authority (CAA), the workshop in Abu Dhabi on Jan. 21–22 was attended by 200 representatives from 11 Middle East countries plus observers from the United Nations, South Africa and the Russian Federation. The workshop addressed seven focus areas and adopted a resolution accepting the Roadmap as the basis for future regional safety plans. It also established the Middle East Top Level Safety Team to conduct further workshops and to develop detailed plans for action.
- In Abuja on April 14–18, the workshop hosted by the Nigerian CAA was attended by 280 representatives and observers from 22 countries. The participants developed plans based on gap analyses for four focus areas and approved a plan to proceed in development of safety improvements aligned with the ICAO Africa and Indian Ocean Regional Implementation Plan (AFI).
- The workshop in Bogotá on May 19–23 was hosted by the Colombian CAA and attended by 180 representatives from 19 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and North America. The participants developed detailed plans for three focus areas and formed the Regional Aviation Safety Group — Pan America (RASG-PA), which currently is the largest Roadmap-implementation effort worldwide.
- Hosted by the Tanzanian CAA, the workshop in Arusha, Tanzania, on August 12–14 was attended by 180 representatives and observers from 10 countries. The participants developed recommendations for four focus areas, identified parties responsible for implementation and defined coordination with the AFI plan.
Additional 2008 Roadmap-implementation workshops are scheduled to be held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on November 11–13 and in Maputo, Mozambique, on December 2–4. Plans are being developed for workshops in other regions in 2009. For a full description of the Roadmap, its history and future plans can be accessed at the ICAO website — https://www.icao.int/safety/GASP/Pages/Roadmaps.aspx
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