The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said that 73 airline CEOs have subscribed to the IATA Safety Leadership Charter, reinforcing the aviation sector’s commitment to safety, which contributed to some best-ever results in 2023, including absence of fatalities among IATA member airlines or the airlines on the IATA Operational Safety Audit Registry.
“Strong leadership and strong safety culture are interdependent, and both are needed to drive continuous improvements in safety performance,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
“By putting their names to the IATA Safety Leadership Charter, 73 airline CEOs have set an example for their airlines and for the industry. In doing so, the Charter is a call to action that keeps in focus the critical obligation of airline CEOs to lead a safety culture that keeps their passengers and staff safe.”
The IATA Safety Leadership Charter was developed in consultation with IATA members and the wider aviation community. Its aim is to support industry executives in evolving a positive safety culture within their organizations around eight leadership principles.
• Reinforcing safety through both words and actions.
• Fostering safety awareness among employees, the leadership team, and the board.
• Guiding the integration of safety into business strategies, processes, and performance measures.
• Creating the internal capacity to proactively manage safety and collectively achieve organizational safety goals.
• Creating an atmosphere of trust, where all employees feel responsible for safety and are encouraged and expected to report safety-related information.
• Establishing a working environment in which clear expectations of acceptable and unacceptable behaviours are communicated and understood.
• Creating an environment where all employees feel responsibility for safety.
• Regularly assessing and improving an organizational Safety Culture.
IATA aims to support the industry in continuously improving safety performance with a three-pillar strategy consisting of:
• Safety Leadership (including both safety leadership and culture)
• Safety Risk (identifying and mitigating risks through data collection and analysis from audits, accident reports, and other sources)
• Safety Connect (providing the links so that safety leaders report, discuss, and resolve safety issues)
