Introduction
Aviation safety is critical for the success of all air travel globally. Companies and governing authorities have the joint responsibility of continually improving aviation safety to ensure the ultimate protection of all passengers and employees. The efforts so far have been positive considering that despite the increasing air traffic, the accidents have exponentially declined. In 1960, for example, over 50 accidents were recorded per million departures. The incident figures declined to about 5 in the 1980s and about 3 in the 2010s per one million departures respectively (Piric, et al., 2019). The current literature has also tried to evaluate the safety performance metrics that can be used to effectively monitor organizations. According to Karanikas (2016), the performance metrics are used by the managers to implement best practices that lead to the highest possible safety outcomes. This report focuses on the Irish aviation safety strategies and best practices.
For decades Ireland has demonstrated its commitment to aviation safety by making continuous improvements. The efforts have included making local aviation safety strategies and contributing to and adhering to international standards set by bodies, such as European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) among others. Ireland prepares State Plans for Aviation Safety (SPAS) to be used by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) to address the state-level safety issues in aviation (IAA, 2020). The 11th edition of SPAS will be the focal point of this report is examining the strategic position of Irish aviation safety. Among the challenges addressed, there have been challenges outlined in a safety performance review for the year 2019 (IAA, 2019). These two documents and their contents form the background of this report, in addition to other aviation safety documents from EASA, ICAO, and other relevant aviation safety authorities. The safety performance of Ireland will be explored from a strategic point of view.
Objectives
The primary objective of this report is to study the aviation safety of Ireland to establish how well the IAA has performed. A strategic position and critical analysis of Irish aviation safety will rank the country’s civil aviation safety alongside the European and global aviation authorities. The analysis will also highlight the extent to which the 2020-2023 SPAS report addresses the aviation safety problems highlighted in the safety performance review of 2019. Secondly, the strategic choices and best practices section will examine the best practices in aviation across the globe as documented in ICAO, IATA, EASA, and other leading nations in aviation and determine which of the identified best practices are adhered to by the Irish Aviation Safety Plan.
Strategic Position
The concept of strategic positioning has been used in the field of strategic management to describe how businesses distinguish themselves from rivals and how they deliver value for the consumers. A company selects a strategic position that governs its strategic decision-making and aids in the implementation of strategic decisions (Dimitrova, 2017). Several methods can be used to determine and evaluate the strategic position of a firm, including SWOT analysis and BCG matrix. Aviation safety is a global concern with the safety authorities responsible for the formulation and implementation of safety strategies. The strategic position of any agency can be determined by how well it performs in safety management and the strategies it uses to maximize aviation safety. Such an approach will be used here to highlight IAA’s aviation safety strategic position.
The strategic position of the IAA can be examined from two perspectives: 1) the current safety standards as seen from the number of incidents and 2) a comparison of Irish aviation safety with the European and global aviation safety levels. The performance review of 2019 presents the current level of safety in Irish civil aviation. The report presents a record of all incidences in Ireland in various categories of commercial aviation. In the fixed-wing commercial air transport sector (CAT), one non-fatal accident was recorded in 2019 and zero fatal incidences were recorded. Overall, there have been 15 incidences between 2015 and 2019 involving the CAT category. Over the 5-year period, the major issues reported through the mandatory occurrence reports (MORs) in the CAT sector include system failure, airprox/near mid-air collisions, runway incursions (non-animal), ground handling, ground collision, turbulence encounter, cabin safety, and medical emergencies (IAA, 2019). In 2019 alone, over 9945 MORs were submitted from which the incident data is derived.
The other category is the commercial helicopter sector where only one fatal accident occurred in 2017 and one non-fatal accident was reported in 2015. The investigation into these cases revealed that the fatal accident was a ‘controlled into terrain’ while the non-fatal case was labeled an ‘abnormal runway contact’ (IAA, 2019). The major safety issues highlighted by the 59 MORs in 2019 and 161 MORs between 2016 and 2019 include security-related, system failure or malfunction, and other (IAA, 2019). In the air navigation services and aerodromes category, 4 non-fatal and 15 serious incidents were reported involving CAT aircraft and Irish certified aerodromes between 2015 and 2019. In 2019, only 2 incidents occurred with no accident categorized as fatal or non-fatal. The MORs submitted in this category reached 5807 between 2015 and 2019 and 1682 for 2019 alone. The areas where problems occurred included air traffic management, ground handling, navigating errors, aerodromes, and other.
In the general aviation category, the incidences are reported according to type or weight of aircraft in the years between 2015 and 2019. Aeroplanes over 2250kg recorded 2 fatal accidents, 1 non-fatal accident, and zero serious incidents. In the under 2250kg, 5 fatal accidents (two involving homebuilt aircraft), 22 non-fatal (including 5 homebuilt), and 13 serious incidents (1 homebuilt) were recorded. The helicopters under 2250kgs recorded zero fatal, 6 non-fatal, and 1 serious incident. Other types of aircraft with reported incidences are considered here to be non-commercial, for example, the microlight, sailplanes, gyrocopters, and paragliders. These incidences indicate that even with the strategic plans to improve aviation safety, several gaps remain.
Another way to explain IAA’s strategic position is to compare it with global incidences, especially in Europe where standards are considered to be relatively higher. One of the greatest news in 2019 was that the fatalities from aviation accidents had fallen from 542 in 2018 to 267, an estimated 50% decline. However, the statistics do not insinuate fewer incidences as that number of accidents increased from 11 to 14 within the same period (Tidey, 2020). The year 2018 may have been an isolated case as the accidents reported were estimated at a 900% increase from those reported in 2019 (Goldstein, 2019). EASA reported 173 fatalities in 2019 with 80% of the accidents being under the general aviation category (Eurostat, 2020). Small aeroplanes, gliders, hot air balloons, and microlights are the specific categories with a huge percentage of fatalities. In the commercial aviation sector, therefore, the incidences in the European Union (EU) are very low. Specifically, the CAT category had only 9.2% of the fatalities (amounting to 16 fatalities).
Comparing these statistics to the incidences in Ireland reveals that Ireland is not in a bad position in terms of aviation security both within Europe and across the globe. The strategic plan is indeed a critical tool to help reduce accidents in commercial aviation. The safety performance review outlined the major issues, and it is expected that the SPAS report for the 2020-2023 period addresses all the issues raised. A closer examination of the SPAS reveals that the strategic plan has made an effort to address the major deficiencies. In the CAT sector, the SPAS addresses specific risks, including loss of control, mid-air collisions, controlled flight into terrain, runway incursions, runway excursions, bird and wildlife strikes, and ground operations. The only categories not featuring in the SPAS are the medical emergencies and the category labelled ‘other’ (IAA, 2020). The aircraft environment is addressed in the category labelled cabin safety.
In the general aviation sector, the strategic plan has addressed airspace infringement by GA aircraft, promoting safety for general aviation, and risks involving general aviation. The general category in the SPAS is, therefore, relatively shallow as compared to the performance review report where more categories (including non-commercial areas) were discussed. Additionally, the SPAS does not address the issues in the commercial helicopter category, and it can only be assumed that the deficiencies in that category are addressed either in the CAT or general aviation. Regardless of where the commercial helicopters are covered, it remains clear that the strategic plan has tried to be as comprehensive as possible in addressing the deficiencies. Additionally, it is important to acknowledge the benchmarking practice where ICAO and EASA inform much of the SPAS actions.
The current environment in aviation is becoming more competitive and more exposed to greater risks. With the advances in technology, the industry has managed to incorporate various new dimensions to both the aircraft and aviation safety. The technologies can affect safety, especially the cybercrimes that target the operational technology. Operational technology has been defined as the hardware and software controlling the physical devices (Watson, 2020). The SPAS should, therefore, include the safety issues related to the operational technology in aviation safety management. The IAA should recognize that the technology is evolving alongside the risks it carries. The topic of cyber risks may have generated a lot of interest among the stakeholders in aviation but it is yet to feature prominently in safety management reports as a major safety issue. According to Olano (2019), the efforts and systems in place to combat cyber risks are not robust enough to reduce the concerts to the bare minimum. The IAA should, therefore, make a point of addressing all the emerging safety issues relating to technology.
Strategic Choices and Best Practices
Many aviation agencies and authorities usually seek to achieve legal benchmarks in safety management beyond which not many activities are documented. The best practices are a term that can be used to describe those practices that, when used by companies, tend to produce superior results. Applied to the aviation industry, specifically to the context of aviation safety, best practices will mean those practices beyond the legal requirements that are undertaken to improve aviation safety beyond what is legally required. ICAO, IATA, and EASA are some of the best agencies to explore best practices considering that they often approach aviation safety from a number of ways and in pursuit of different safety goals.
One of the most visible best practices in aviation safety is the adoption of an integrated risk management framework within which safety is addressed as one of the critical perils. Integrated risk management (IRM) is a framework supported by the creation of a risk-aware culture of risk management through an integrated approach to hazard-related decision making. According to Majdalawieh and Gammack (2017), a well-structured IRM framework helps to improve the performance and the shareholder value. In aviation safety, such approach to risk management starts with the development of a safety culture that supports actions and behaviours that contribute towards safety.
ICAO’s safety management manual of 2018 provides the perfect example of the adoption of integrated risk management in aviation safety. ICAO (2018) argues that the aviation system as a whole consists of several functional systems, including finance, security, safety, and environment. Safety and security are deemed to be the primary operational domains concerned with the risk events and their consequences. The safety recommendations and guidelines offered by ICAO (2018) are not strictly legal requirements, but practices that help the aviation system achieve overall safety wellbeing. Among the practices and guidelines, there are necessitating reinforced cockpit doors, restricting the carriage of personal electronic devices in the cabin, and changing flight routes to avoid flying on restricted flying zones. Another risk-based approach is adopted in France’s strategic action to improve aviation safety (DGAC, 2018). Other agencies and authorities can be seen as making attempts to integrate risk management into aviation safety management.
The IAA, to some extent, engages in similar best practices by incorporating risk management into aviation safety management. The 2020-2023 SPAS report expresses that the safety management system adopted by the IAA includes risk management process. The IAA uses the process to identify hazards in civil aviation, assess the dangers, plan actions to mitigate the perils, implement the planned actions, and monitors the risk management outcomes (IAA, 2020). As mentioned earlier on, the IRM involves creating a risk-aware culture that allows all corporate actions to consider all the threats. An equivalent approach to risk-aware culture is the safety culture, a concept that involves corporate behaviours that seek to achieve the ultimate workplace safety. IAA (2020) embraces and seeks to enforce a safety culture across the aviation industry in Ireland. Such approach is considered to be a best practice in aviation safety. Additionally, a risk-based oversight allows IAA to monitor the activities in the Irish aviation industry from a risk-based perspective.
Other best practices have been adopted by global aviation agencies to improve safety performance in the aviation industry. Crisis communication and reputation management are among those best practices recommended by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that highlights response models and information management after a crisis (IATA, 2019). These guidelines may not be intended to boost safety in the aviation but are intended to guide the actions in case a safety crisis occurs.
Lastly, it can be considered to be a best practice to address emerging issues and their implications for aviation safety. One such issue is the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) that has recently disrupted all industries, aviation included. EASA (2020) published an operational guideline for COVID-19 aviation health safety outlining how the passengers and other aspects of air transport need to be handled during the pandemic. Such guidelines are considered to be best practices because they do not simply seek to meet the health regulations, but to achieve safety performance standards higher than those set by the legal requirements. IAA (2020) has also published guidelines relating to COVID-19 explaining how the Irish commercial aviation corporations will need to address the pandemic. Other emerging issues addressed by the SPAS include the Brexit and how it impacts aviation safety, possibly in terms of safety regulations and international standards. IAA, therefore, is seen as adhering to the guidelines and industry best practices in pursuit of the ultimate aviation safety.
Conclusion
Irish aviation safety can be considered to be among the best in Europe and the world due to the few incidences, specifically the fatal incidences. The safety standards and strategies implemented have gone a long way in ensuring that the country can offer passengers and aviation personnel the ultimate protection. A discussion of the strategic position reveals that the country still faces a few challenges most of which are addressed in the strategic plan. The strategic choices and best practices section expound on safety protocols and guidelines that go beyond the legal requirements to improve the overall aviation safety performance. The IAA, the agency responsible for the state-level aviation safety, seems keen to adopt guidelines and industry best practices adopted by global agencies, such as EASA, ICAO, and IATA.
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