Canada has received a C grade on flight safety and oversight – down from an A+ and far below most of its peers – according to a draft report from a United Nations agency. The confidential audit from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) says the country has fallen precipitously to a score of 64 out of 100. Canada’s score topped 95% in the UN body’s previous report in 2005.
Three safety areas in particular were flagged as seeing a big drop-off: aircraft operations, airports, and air navigation, and the UN body recommended that the federal government establish a system to lock in full regulatory compliance by airlines and airports, shore up certification related to dangerous goods and ensure proper training and fatigue management for air traffic controllers.
Carried out between May 31 and June 14, the audit examines eight areas including legislation, licensing, and accident investigations.
In those three categories, Canada notched scores between 67 and 83, though all were down by at least eight points from the previous safety audit.
It ranked below other G7 countries, except for the United Kingdom, in most categories, and also below a majority of the 38 states in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, a club of economically developed countries.
Oversight of aircraft operations saw the biggest plunge, falling to a score of 23 from 88.
Much of the UN agency’s 23-page report zeroed in on “comprehensive procedures” and oversight mechanisms within government to ensure regulatory compliance.
The government had until Oct. 30 to respond to the agency’s draft audit, and a final report is expected in the coming months.
Air Canada
Air Canada was quick to take exception to the report’s allegations, stating, “It is important to note it was not an audit of the safe operation of Canadian aircraft.”
It added, “For Air Canada’s part, we have our own rigid internal safety processes. These are evaluated and audited regularly by the International Air Transport Association, the global airline association consisting of 300 members. The IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) is the gold standard for evaluating safety for airlines and passing it is a condition of membership.
“Our most recent IOSA audit was concluded in November and Air Canada passed with exemplary findings, well above the average. Additionally, we continually engage with other aviation organizations and authorities around the world to promote safety and to share best safety practices.”
The ICAO report comes amid an ongoing dearth of aviation employees that include air traffic controllers, pilots, and baggage handlers, adding to the challenges facing the sector after the COVID-19 pandemic upended it.
The total score measures a given country’s “safety oversight capability” based on the UN agency’s questionnaires, checklists, and on-site visits to industry players, including Air Canada, Nav Canada and the Montreal airport.
The shortage of air traffic controllers and a trend toward off-loading safety responsibilities from government to industry remain concerns across the continent, said Ross Aimer, CEO of California-based Aero Consulting Experts. “Every other day you hear there’s what we call a near miss. I don’t like that term ‘near miss;’ I would like to call it a near collision.”
Aimer warned of governments’ delegating oversight duties to airlines and manufacturers rather than shouldering responsibility for checks and safeguards themselves. “It’s almost like the fox guarding the henhouse. You can’t be promoting aviation and yet policing it at the same time,” he said.
For years, Canada has required aviation organizations to comply with frameworks called “safety management systems” (SMS) laid out by the International Civil Aviation Organization. In 2007, Transport Canada said the sector “would henceforth be responsible for the proactive and systematic management of the risks that weigh on its activities, and that the primary tool used to do so would be the SMS, where possible,” according to a Library of Parliament analysis in 2021.
On its website, Transport Canada says its mandate is to “promote safe, secure, efficient and environmentally responsible transportation.”
University of Manitoba transport institute director Barry Prentice questions the UN report, saying Canada’s flight safety record speaks for itself, with plane accident deaths down in recent years and no major commercial airline crashes in decades.
“What are the results? I haven’t seen much in the nature of safety problems in the airline industry for some time,” he said. “That’s an indication the system is working well.”