July 22, 2015

Pilot Alliances Increase Safety Data Sharing Opportunities

The world’s three global pilot alliances—the Association of Star Alliance Pilots (ASAP), the Oneworld Cockpit Crew Coalition (OCCC), and the SkyTeam Pilots Association (SPA)—are changing the way pilots share information. Wednesday’s panel discussion, titled “International Pilot Alliances,” explored how members working within these groups are working together to improve operational safety and security.

Capt. Mike Pinho (Delta), executive vice president for the North American region of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA), who moderated this discussion, commented, “The mindset is that we don’t compete on safety.” He explained that all members of the SkyTeam Pilots Association, of which he is a member, benefit from the open exchange of aviation safety statistics and other data. The SPA currently represents over 25,000 pilots at 20 airlines.

Capt. Scott Hammond (Delta), central air safety chair for his pilot group and chair for the SkyTeam pilots’ Safety Committee, discussed how safety issues can vary among alliance members. He cited high-altitude flights over conflict zones in countries like Ukraine and Syria, noting that there are different levels of risk for airlines from different countries. As SkyTeam pilots further examine these concerns, “We have to make sure we’re looking at the same data and coming to the same conclusions,” said Hammond.

On the airline management side, John Laughter, senior vice president of Corporate Safety, Security, and Compliance for Delta Air Lines, also contributes his time to SkyTeam Airline Alliance safety pursuits. He commented that top safety executives from the airline alliance’s 20 carriers meet at their headquarters in Amsterdam twice a year and hold monthly conference calls to make decisions on behalf of their companies. They also communicate with their pilot alliance counterparts to enhance communications and foster a stronger safety culture.

Capt. Gavin McKellar (Air Lines Pilots’ Association South Africa), former IFALPA regional vice president (Africa-South), pilot safety representative, and member of the Association of Star Alliance Pilots, talked about the need for a greater level of data sharing with airline managements, specifically, safety performance indicators and “lessons learned.” The Association of Star Alliance Pilots represents 50,000 pilots at 28 airlines, and McKellar and the others talked about the usefulness of creating a network, comparable to the U.S.-developed Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) system, at the alliance level.

Panelists discuss working together globally to improve operational safety and security

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the largest airline pilot union in the world and represents over 52,000 pilots at 31 U.S. and Canadian airlines. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org or follow us on Twitter @WeAreALPA.

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