Tuesday Edition: AP-SAS 2025

SMS Sun Calls for Collaboration and Proactive Approach to Strengthen Aviation Safety

As the aviation system in the Asia Pacific region faces increasing complexity and greater demands, the industry must take a proactive approach to reinforce safety fundamentals and resilience in aviation systems, Ms. Sun Xueling, Senior Minister of State for Transport and National Development, Singapore, said in her opening remarks Tuesday morning on Day 1 of the third annual Asia Pacific Summit for Aviation Safety (AP-SAS) in Singapore. APSAS is jointly organised by Flight Safety Foundation and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.

SMS Sun said this approach includes robust safety regimes, positive safety cultures, and strong safety leadership. “Such efforts to safeguard aviation will allow us to preserve and build public trust in aviation, a trust painstakingly built over decades, assuring passengers that all efforts have been made to ensure they can fly and return home safely to their loved ones,” she said.

SMS Sun also called for continued collaboration because “global headwinds” demand collective efforts to manage evolving safety risks. In addition, industry stakeholders must continue to embrace technological innovations, such as systemwide information management and trajectory-based operations, to improve the safety regime.

“Ensuring aviation safety also requires strong partnerships and collective action,” she said. “Collaboration across governments, industry, and international organisations will be increasingly vital in managing cross-border safety issues. Through open sharing, mutual learning, and strong collaboration, we can continuously strengthen aviation safety and tackle emerging risks.”

ICAO Secretary General Calls for Collaboration and Commitment

Achieving the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) aspirational goal of zero fatalities in international aviation from accidents and acts of unlawful interference will require real commitment from stakeholders across the industry, ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar said in his Day 1 keynote address. He also said that the Asia Pacific region’s leadership in safety makes the summit crucial for both regional and global safety improvements.

He said important elements of continuing to drive safety include fostering a strong safety culture and continuing to address the high-risk safety occurrences identified by ICAO, including runway incursions and excursions, controlled flight into terrain, midair collisions, and loss of control–in flight. Other identified safety risks that must be addressed include turbulence, system component failure–non-powerplant, and abnormal runway contact. Critical organizational challenges facing the industry include insufficient funding, shortages of qualified personnel, and poor safety data collection systems.

Political Leaders Need to Embrace Aviation and Safety

Aviation is not a luxury or a “nice to have” but rather is crucial to the development and well-being of many States and regions that rely on air travel for connection and economic growth, members of a high-level panel stressed. And, given aviation’s importance, safety is not just a technical priority but a national imperative.

The high-level panel discussion, moderated by Foundation President and CEO Dr. Hassan Shahidi, featured Mr. Alexander Teabo, Minister for Information, Communications and Transport, Kiribati, and Mr. Bimal Rathnayake, Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation, Sri Lanka, as well as Ms. Ingrid Azucena Zelaya Florian, President, Latin

American Civil Aviation Commission, and Director General, Directorate General of Civil Aeronautics, Guatemala; Ms. Adefunke Adeyemi, Secretary General, African Civil Aviation Commission; and Mr. Alessio Quaranta, President, European Civil Aviation Conference.

Regional cooperation on aviation and safety is essential, said Teabo, who added that that he works to ensure that safety is elevated politically and through diplomacy.

Adeyemi said that aviation is the key to connecting the vast African continent effectively and that aviation should be “top of mind” for political leaders and other decision-makers. She also stressed that regional collaboration is important and that safety is a common and shared responsibility among States. “We cannot leave anyone behind.”

Zelaya echoed those remarks, saying that the best strategy to ensure aviation safety in Latin America and around the world involves connection and open dialogue among stakeholders. She said that safety culture goes beyond complying with regulations. “We need a real safety culture, and to build such a culture, we need commitment from political leadership,” she said.

Quaranta also discussed the need for partnership to address emerging issues, and the importance of a global strategy and vision, and the need to strengthen system resilience.

Safey without compromise is the key, said Rathnayake.

AI Provides Opportunities for a Safer Industry

Aviation remains the safest mode of transportation globally, but with the Asia Pacific region facing unprecedented growth, there is pressure to keep up with demand, and therein lie multiple challenges and complexities, according to Patrick Ky, chief executive of the International Centre for Aviation Innovation.

Ky, former executive director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, said that technological innovation has driven safety gains throughout the history of aviation and that it is important to continue to invest in research and development. He said the human operator is often cited as a casual factor in accidents, and that despite all the effort put into the understanding of human factors, human contributions to accidents are not declining, but have plateaued. On the other hand, he said, the human operator is also a significant safety asset and humans are major contributors to avoiding accidents and preventing incidents from becoming accidents

Air Traffic Controllers, Engineers, Mechanics are Major Recruiting Challenge

When it comes to reported or anticipated shortages of critical aviation personnel, much attention has been focused over the years on pilots, but the real areas of concern are finding enough engineers, mechanics, and air traffic controllers to support current operations and future growth, according to a panel of industry CEOs.

The industry has been talking about pilot shortages for years, “but I’ve never seen it,” said International Air Transport Association Director General Willie Walsh, who added that sometimes pilot shortages are a problem in the United States. Airlines are most concerned with recruiting engineers and mechanics, he said.

Simon Hocquard, President and CEO, Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation, said retaining and recruiting air traffic controllers is a huge challenge today.

Jeffrey Lam, Group Chief Operating Officer (Operations Excellence) and President of Commercial Aerospace, ST Engineering, said that human resources are “our number one challenges, and I expect that to continue.”

The panelists discussed workforce mobility. In some cases, mobility is limited by differing national licensing and certification requirements, said Chin Yau Seng, Chief Executive Officer, SIA Engineering Company (SIAEC).

One of the big challenges facing the industry in terms of staffing is recruiting today for what is needed tomorrow, Hocquard said.

Other challenges cited by the panelists included attracting more women to the industry and communicating across cultures. Lam said the ability to operate across cultures is important, as is “speaking the same language without speaking the same language.”

Work Needed to Improve Safety Culture

One of the most important factors when it comes to safety is a positive safety culture, but when looked at globally, the aviation industry’s safety culture is not strong, , according to Helena Sjöström Falk, President and CEO, International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations. She cited several recent examples of air traffic controllers being detained or losing their jobs, and of air traffic control tapes being released to the media. “To think we have a just culture is being not aware,” she said, adding that a safety culture is not a program implemented by management.

Bennet Walsh, Senior Vice President, Corporate Aviation Safety Strategy, Korean Air, said the culture of an organisation involves how people react to the organisation’s safety initiatives. It is also important for an organisation to define what acceptable behaviour is and, once it is defined, to be consistent in upholding that definition.

Contingency Planning is All-Encompassing

If there is one truism when it comes to planning for an emergency, it is that the time to test a contingency plan is not during a crisis but before. That was one of many observations in a fireside chat on Safeguarding Crucial Connections in Aviation that closed out Day 1. The fireside chat featured a discussion between host Ng Tee Chiou, Deputy Director-General, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, and Clara Wong, Deputy Director-General, Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department.

One thing that is important is thorough planning and organisation, Wong said. An organization must know what level of resiliency or redundancy it needs and what resources are necessary to ensure operations can continue in case of an event like a major storm or similar disruption, she said.

Hong Kong, for example, has provisions for a back-up air traffic control system and has two geographically separate air traffic control centers. Also, having a good team of trained and ready people is crucial, as are regular drills and desk top simulations, she said.

Planning for contingencies and business continuity is all-encompassing and covers people and technology, Ng said.