Aircraft safety takes over top slot

Date: 30/01/1997

By Michael Mann

THERE is nothing like a disaster to spur politicians into action. When the Herald of Free Enterprise sank off Zeebrugge in 1987, a concerted effort began to improve car ferry safety. This was given even greater impetus when the Estonia went down with massive loss of life six years later. A series of high-profile coach and minibus crashes had a similar effect on policy-makers.

Now, although the public is constantly reminded that flying remains statistically the safest form of transport, it is the turn of the airline industry to come under the spotlight.

Concern over air safety came to the fore after 176 people died in a crash over the Dominican Republic in February last year. But Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock's proposals for tighter safety standards are also inspired by a belief that ensuring the maintenance of safety standards is absolutely crucial to the success of moves to liberalise air travel.

His strategy, launched last June, called for more systematic methods for assessing the safety of non-EU carriers, better information sharing between member states and legislation to oblige EU governments to ground foreign aircraft found to be suspect or dangerous.

As a long-term goal, Kinnock called for the establishment of a European Aviation Safety Authority and in December, the European Commission formally requested a mandate from EU governments to negotiate such a body.

Kinnock plans to convert the informal Joint Aviation Authorities into an international body in which the Commission would be a full member alongside member states.

Safety lobbies argue there should be a more bottom-up approach to safety, going beyond pure regulatory questions.

Despite current pressure for even tougher action, no one would dispute that the EU has made considerable progress on safety issues in the past few years. Lobbying from MEPs forced transport ministers to adopt more stringent car testing standards than originally intended, and a lengthy battle last year finally brought agreement that all new minibuses on EU roads will have to carry three-point safety belts from 2001.

Changes to ferry safety procedures provide a model of how governments can move things forward when public opinion demands.

With memories of the Estonia tragedy fresh in its mind, the Union forced through legislation drawn up by the International Maritime Organisation two years ahead of schedule.