Call for urgent upgrade of CEEC aircraft safety norms

Date: 18/09/1997

TOP European Commission transport officials are set to fine-tune their strategy on how - and how fast - to widen the EU's single market for aviation into central and eastern Europe after warnings that safety standards in some countries in the region need upgrading urgently.

The meeting next Thursday (25 September), between EU transport officials and their counterparts from half a dozen central and eastern European countries (CEECs), follows hard on the heels of an alert over the safety and regulatory procedures of some CEEC aviation authorities.

Specific supervisory worries over safety have surfaced in a report by independent experts for the Commission's Directorate -General for transport (DXVII) which also highlights a more general concern about the resources afforded to aviation authorities in the former eastern bloc.

The Commission was given the go-ahead last year by ministers to launch discussions with the CEECs over their membership of a wider aviation area. One key condition for this would be for safety rules and procedures to be up to western standards.

The report pulls few punches in relation to the safety regime in Slovakia where it alleges 'clear evidence' of the transport ministry giving airlines the basic clearance to fly in spite of negative advice from experts in the maintenance and operation departments of the aviation authority.

Measures clarifying the relationship between the Slovak ministry and aviation authority are expected. But the report also pinpoints “a lack of formal regulatory and technical training for inspectors” and inadequate supervision of approved maintenance organisations, especially those far from the capital, Bratislava.

Worries have also been raised about the vetting of maintenance operations at a distance from the capital of Lithuania.

Bulgaria comes in for criticism amid evidence that maintenance rules are “not always strictly interpreted” by its aviation authority, with a lack of resources resulting in “undue pressure on the number of personnel and the depth of safety oversight which the authority is able to deploy”.

Meagre funding means monitoring by Estonia's aviation authority is limited across the board, from operations to maintenance and licensing. But checks on the day-to-day airworthiness of aircraft are judged adequate.

The situation appears better in the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary, all front runners for early EU membership.

However, Prague too is deemed to have insufficient staff to ensure satisfactory checks and Hungary's aviation authority records do not indicate that full audits of maintenance organisations are performed.