EUROCONTROL - News

Brussels, Belgium – The 22nd annual European Aviation Safety Seminar was
held in Lisbon from 15th to 17th March, with an audience of more than 200
participants.  The joint annual conference, organised by the Flight Safety
Foundation (FSF), the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) and
EUROCONTROL is a unique forum for sharing information and best practices
to improve air traffic safety.   
 
The current economic downturn could have an impact on safety programmes in
the mid- to long-term.  Even though the overall situation is improving gradually
over time, the pace of progress is too slow and in order to meet the ten-fold
safety improvement aim of the Single European Sky, further efforts will be
needed.   
 
“Traffic is going to grow, we have to carry on devoting energy and resources to
safety and we have to make sure that the widespread budget cuts we are
witnessing today do no affect either the availability of safety resources in the
short-term, nor the investment in the crucial long-term programmes”, said
Tzvetomir Blajev, EUROCONTROL Senior Team Leader, Operational Safety
and SMS Support.
 
The Seminar also addressed the most important issue of just culture, which will
be tackled at the upcoming ICAO high level Safety Conference which will take
place at the end of March.  It emphasized the need to establish a culture in
which individuals would feel safe to report deficiencies, errors or incidents.  An
environment where the reporting and sharing of information is facilitated and
supported is a crucial enabler of enhanced safety.   

“All of us in the aviation industry – controllers, regulators, service providers,
airlines, airports, manufacturers, researchers – must take the time to engage in
constructive dialogue; to share our knowledge and best practices.  Provided we
do so a great deal of time and effort can be saved and concrete progress
made”, said David McMillan, Director General of EUROCONTROL. 
 
For further information, please contact: 

Kyla Evans/Catherine De Smedt, Tel: +32 2 729 50 95 Email:
press@eurocontrol.int
For more information via the website: www.eurocontrol.int