Challenges facing aviation safety An airlines’ perspective
5th International Conference
Nicosia, May 15th, 2014
Improved net profits are being forecasted but still on a moderate level
Source: IATA 2014
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The challenges of the airline industry that impact safety management
 Cost pressure in all airline departments resulting in cost
saving initiatives (e.g. reducing training initiatives)
 As the world commercial fleet expands to more than
39,500 airplanes over the next 20 years, the world's
airlines will need to add 460,000 pilots and 650,000
maintenance technicians  Fight for Talents!
 The growing diversity of pilots and maintenance
technicians in training will require instructors to have
cross-cultural and cross-generational skills
 The role of human beings in airline operations is more
important than ever, since technology is developing
fast and adding complexity to operational systems
 Implementation and monitoring of the safety
management system requires suitable qualified
resources, tools and time
 Safety management system goes far beyond flight
safety and is required to be rolled-out through the
entire organization
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The management dilemma
Management Levels
Ressources
Ressources
Production
Ressources
Protection
 Lower On-Time-Performance
 Not profitable operatons
 Maximum Risk Mitigation
 Zero Failure Tolerance
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The greatest threats to improvements in airline safety
Source: ASCEND Safety Study 2009
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Creating a positive culture within the entire organization is the only way
to achieve the desired results
Informed culture
People are knowledgeable about the human,
technical, organizational and environmental factors
that determine the safety of the system as a whole.
Reporting culture
People are
prepared to report
their errors and
experiences
Positive
culture
Just culture
People are encouraged (even rewarded) for
providing essential safety-related information.
However, there is a clear line that differentiates
between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.
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Flexible culture
People can adapt
organizational
processes when facing
high temporary
operations or certain
kinds of danger, shifting
from the conventional
hierarchical mode to a
flatter mode.
Learning culture
People have the
willingness and the
competence to draw
conclusions from safety
information systems and
the will to implement
major reforms.
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Today‘s airline safety management systems are capturing the system
performance to identify potential future problems
Reactive method
The reactive method
responds to the
events that already
happened, such as
incidents and
accidents
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Proactive method
The proactive
method
looks actively for the
identification of
safety risks
through the analysis
of the organization’s
activities
Predictive method
The predictive
method captures
system performance
as it happens in
real-time normal
operations to
identify potential
future problems
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Safety management levels from an airline operations‘ point of view
Safety management levels
Reactive
Predictive
Proactive
Reactive
FDA
Direct
observation
system
ASR
Air safety
Accident
Surveys
mandatory
and incident
Audits
reports
reports
Highly efficient
Very efficient
Efficient
Insufficient
Desirable management
levels
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Within Lufthansa the integrated approach of Quality and Safety
Management is being practiced
SMS
safety
FODA
QMS
quality
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The connection
between quality and
safety is obvious,
although the systems
are independent and
can be implemented
separately
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The overall objective is to deploy a corporate wide operational risk
assessment and risk monitoring system
Conclusion

SMS is about changing a culture. It’s a business decision that requires a new mindset
about approaching safety and risk. The goal is to be forward-looking in accident
prevention

Human resources play a vital role in the company wide implementation of SMS. Talents
will become rare in the future

Post accident and incident investigation is a reactive method and does not lead to
predicting negative events

Creating a positive culture that promotes safety within the organization is a major
challenge

The predictive methodology requires an operational risk management system which is
constantly provides a current overview and evaluation of the operational risks
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Contact
Panagiotis Poligenis
Associate Partner
Lufthansa Consulting GmbH
Unterschweinstiege 14
60549 Frankfurt
Germany
Tel.:
Fax:
+49 (0) 69 696 20849
+49 (0) 69 696 20830
Panagiotis.Poligenis@LHConsulting.com
www.LHConsulting.com
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