Global Safety Assessment Project

Flight Safety Foundation launched the Global Safety Assessment Project in 2021 to help the Foundation and its members understand global and regional safety needs by identifying synergies and gaps in addressing the existing safety risks and emerging safety issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The assessment was developed in collaboration with regulators, regional groups and industry associations. It focused on scheduled commercial air transport, business aviation and special operations in six International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regions:

  • South American (SAM);
  • North American, Central Americn and Caribbean (NACC);
  • Asia and Pacific (APAC);
  • Middle East (MID);
  • Eastern and South African (ESAF); and,
  • Western and Central African (WACAF)

At the outset of the project, traditional safety information on accidents and incidents was collected, as was information on the number of pandemic-related exemptions, alleviations and extensions issued by regulators. An extensive survey was developed in collaboration with regional industry groups and their members and distributed widely across the focus regions. The objective of the survey was to collect information on risk assessments performed and mitigation strategies implemented during the pandemic. The survey also collected information on the level of coordination between regulators and service providers.

The Foundation and industry associations jointly conducted virtual workshops to perform deeper analysis of the survey results and to exchange best practices and lessons learned among participating organizations and their members. 

The following reports break down the results of the survey and analysis by geographic focus region: