Safety has been the highest priority in aviation, a new collaboration between the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Civil Authority of Singapore (CAAS) aims to take aviation safety to an even higher level and facilitate sustainable aviation growth.
According to a press statement, IATA and CAAS are joining hands in establishing a Global Safety Predictive Analytics Research Centre (SPARC) in Singapore.
Under the Memorandum of Collaboration (MOC), SPARC will utilise predictive analytics to identify potential aviation safety hazards and assess related risks.
The first area of focus for SPARC will be runway safety, such as runway excursions, which are the most frequent category of accidents in recent years, according to IATA’s analysis.
According to Director General and CEO of IATA Mr Alexandre de Juniac, SPARC aims to be “a system-based, data-driven, predictive approach to preventing accidents, including analysing the more than 10,000 flights that operate safely every day.”
SPARC leverages research capabilities in Singapore as well as operational flight data and safety information that are available under IATA’s Global Aviation Data Management (GADM) initiative 1. End users across the aviation community can then work collaboratively at the system level to address and implement appropriate safety measures to mitigate the risks, or even to prevent the occurrences of safety hazards.
Director-General of CAAS Mr Kevin Shum, added, “The establishment of SPARC in Singapore is especially timely given the anticipated doubling of air traffic in the Asia Pacific by 2036. SPARC’s predictive data analytics capabilities will help the aviation sector in Asia Pacific better anticipate, prioritise and address safety issues more effectively.”
SPARC envisions to improve flight safety risk management. To do so, it will engage the rest of the aviation community through broad consultation and collaboration for knowledge sharing to identify the most effective applications of the safety information produced.
In the coming months, the SPARC project team will be working 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.