The Strategist

EASA: Air safety is worst in Germany



04/25/2016 - 14:58



Today, media published a review of European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)’s confidential report. It implies that perhaps the most powerful European economy and one of the centers of the European Civil Aviation - Germany - does not comply with the set of safety rules, including the "basic safety requirements of the passengers'. Things are worse in Greece only.



Lasse Fuss
Lasse Fuss
Germany poorly complies with the air traffic safety regulations, including the basic requirements for the safe carriage of passengers, according to EASA’s strictly confidential report. According to the document, released in early March but leaked into the press only now, Germany does not meet safety regulations requirements, or does it very poorly, in 15 key areas. It should be borne in mind that Germany is perhaps the largest economy in Europe. Many major European aviation hubs, including the airport in Frankfurt am Main, are located there. According to the audit carried out by EASA, Germany has 18 still unexplained disturbances under its belt. More of these unexplained disorders were found only in Greece. Note that Greece is not as rich as Germany and, moreover, has lived in a situation of permanent crisis for already ten years.

In the report, the German Federal Office of Civil Aviation (Luftfahrtbundesamt, LBA) has been criticized by European experts for the constant shortage of specialists and regular violations directly related to safety, including failure to comply with the rules of crew rest.

It should be noted that EASA and other European powers criticizing LBA became a regular affair. In 2011, the EU took the plunge and included Germany in the security black list, which is usually dominated by countries such as the Congo, Angola and Somalia. Last year, the European Commission brought an action against Germany for non-compliance with safety rules at the country’s airports. November 2014, EASA issued a warning that the chronic shortage of staff may hinder LBA from carrying out regular checks of airlines and crews, including medical. Four months after this warning, there was the accident with the Germanwings plane crashed due a fault of the co-pilot, who suffered from depression.  

LBA representatives did not comment on the publication. 

Earlier, representative of the European Commission for Transport Yakuyu Adamovich said that the EU airports are most secure in the world, so the EC does not make up a list of unsafe airports, as is done in respect of unsafe airlines.

"The reason that there is no (black) list of airports lies in the fact that every airport is very reliable. Regulation (EU civil aviation security) 300/2008 introduces the world's highest level in the area of aviation safety. Every airport in Europe, there are about 800 of which, complies with the standards," - Adamovich said at a briefing.

Earlier, Minister of Transport of Belgium Jacqueline Galant resigned because of the security situation at the airports. The retirement was preceded by information that the Transport Minister was informed of the results of a research conducted by the European Commission in 2015. The audit of security systems at airports in Belgium revealed serious deficiencies. Yet, the Minister neither attached due importance, nor put the cabinet on notice.

source: wsj.com