IATA, CAAS agree to establish Safety Predictive Analytics Center in Singapore
Given Asia Pacific’s air traffic doubling by 2036 and safety as aviation’s highest priority, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) are establishing a Global Safety Predictive Analytics Research Center (SPARC) in Singapore.
The two parties announced the signing of a Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) to establish the SPARC the other day (Feb. 7, 2018).
The center’s predictive data analytics capabilities will help the aviation sector in Asia Pacific better anticipate, prioritize and address safety issues more effectively, maintained Kevin Shum, Director-General of CAAS.
SPARC will employ predictive analytics to identify potential aviation safety hazards and assess related risks, leveraging Singapore’s research capabilities plus the operational flight data and safety information in IATA’s Global Aviation Data Management (GADM) initiative.
End users across the aviation community can then collaborate to implement safety measures for mitigating risks and preventing safety hazards.
Runway safety, such as runway excursions, which are the most frequent category of accidents in recent years, according to IATA’s analysis, will be SPARC’s first focus.
“The accident investigation process will continue to be a fundamental tool in improving safety,” stressed Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
“However, as accidents decline, we need to take a system-based, datadriven, predictive approach to preventing accidents, including analyzing the more than 10,000 flights that operate safely every day.”
The Singapore Government and the CAAS have been strong partners of IATA and we look forward to working with them through SPARC to help to take aviation safety to an even higher level,” said de Juniac.
“CAAS and IATA have developed a strong partnership over the years. Together, we continue to work closely with the aviation community to enhance safety and facilitate sustainable aviation growth,” added Shum.
However, achieving the cuttingedge approach to flight safety risk management as envisioned in the SPARC initiative requires a mindset change.
Broad consultation and collaboration for knowledge sharing will identify the most effective applications of the safety information produced.
In the coming months, the SPARC project team will work closely with the industry and its stakeholders to develop safety predictive models to ensure that the output generated meets the industry’s current and future needs.