BALANCE HEADQUARTERS Viale Castro Pretorio, 118 • 00185 Rome Ph. +39 06 44596-1 • Fax +39 06 44596493 www.enac.gov.it PRESIDENT Vito Riggio BOARD Andrea Corte Lucio d’Alessandro Roberto Serrentino ACCOUNT ADVISORY BOARD Paolo Castaldi (President) Andrea Bertoncini Dino Poli DIRECTOR GENERAL Alessio Quaranta Editorial Coordination Maria Pastore Head of Institutional Communication Unit With the collaboration of Maria Elena Taormina Director of Personnel & Development Dept. Supervisor of Trasparency Francesca Miceli Andrea Pirola Institutional Communication Unit Acknowledgements We would like to thank all of ENAC's Depts. for their collaboration Graphic design, translation and printing: Cantieri Creativi Srl Printed in May 2015 REPORT AND SOCIAL BALANCE ITALIANCIVILAVIATIONAUTHORITY Contributions Vito Riggio President of the Italian Civil Aviation Authority 2014: a positive year for European civil aviation 3 Alessio Quaranta Director General of the Italian Civil Aviation Authority The new regulatory framework 13 Benedetto Marasà Deputy Director General of the Italian Civil Aviation Authority Flight safety in 2014 16 Patrick Ky Executive Director of the European Aviation Safety Agency EASA: status, role and scope of activities 20 ENAC REPORT AND SOCIAL BALANCE 2014 CONTRIBUTIONS President of the Italian Civil Aviation Authority 2014: a positive year for European civil aviation he past year has been a positive one for European civil aviation. Despite an increase in traffic which signals the start of the recovery after the long crisis that began in 2008, the accident rates have remained constant T in comparison to those of 2013, a year that we remember as the best in the shared history of our sector. It is a parameter built upon millions of hours of flight, that amounts to exactly one accident with victims every 8 million flights. Equal to the United States in the framework of the great Single Sky that has been created in recent years. Italy has given a considerable contribution in this sense, remaining at a level of zero accidents, well beyond the threshold of ten million flights. Regrettably, the recent tragedy and the bewildering drama of the Germanwings flight has cast a deep shadow over the data, not because it alters the tragic statistics, which in fact show the very high levels of safety achieved, but because it gave rise to fears about the psychological endurance of pilots and in general regarding the guarantees required from those who are entrusted with so many human lives, and first of all with their own. After the accident, ENAC immediately summoned a meeting with Italian airlines to provide a strong reaction in view of the legitimate anguish caused by the unbearable gravity of what had happened. That meeting gave rise to a working party that has already recommended - last April - to the Easa Committee initiating a discussion as to whether the 2011 community regulations overseeing this area of the European skies, as it’s commonly known, are sufficiently comprehensive and up to the task. These regulations are binding upon Union Member States. The question of considering the human factor and the necessary level of caution as to the individual’s psychological condition must be open to discussion, without unfounded scaremongering, having particular regard for the interests of the passengers whose numbers keep increasing, together with the precautions necessary to help overcome such situations in the event that they should occur. This must also be done by acknowledging the manifestations in due time, through the re-establishment within the companies of a community climate that is not excessively market oriented and closer to the people who operate with professionalism and generosity in the overwhelming majority of cases. Preventing, not surveilling and punishing. This is the most appropriate recipe for avoiding possible distress, and this is true also for the stress that the crew is subject to. They are specialised personnel, devoted to the care of others. There is a level of care that has fueled community regulations governing passenger rights, in particular those with reduced mobility. For this reason, aeronautical companies, whether they are traditional or not, have to maintain standards of safety and ensure the quality of the care they offer, not only for profitable and contractual reasons, but more importantly to ensure that mobility rights do not give rise to stress and that they are capable of offering serene environments with certain guarantees. The motto “taken for granted”, in this field, is not a publicity slogan. It is the soul of civil aviation that was born to make flying increasingly safe and comfortable. Technical developments certainly help, and for this reason equilibrium prices that take into consideration investments are essential. Training and competence, also in human terms, are needed. In other words, a logical approach is required that combines the swiftness of execution with a balanced mindset, courage with prudence, the search for human 3 CONTRIBUTIONS ENAC REPORT AND SOCIAL BALANCE 2014 values with performances. Suggestions are not lacking: first and foremost we expect them from the professional associations of pilots and crews. We very much count on the experience and professionalism of the aviation medicine in our Italian Air Force, who have worked in this field since the early days, and who cooperate with us today to introduce, where possible and with the best methods identified and available, improvements in the control area while waiting for possible modifications of community regulations. Naturally, this would apply only to what is truly needed, like the constant double presence in the cockpit, a principle that applies a redundancy criterion which is well known in this sector. For example, it could be research aimed at developing models, including technical models, for detecting dangerous situations, in terms of psychological as well as physical strain. Proposals are expected by the end of the year, according to a calendar that will be observed and that falls fully within ENAC’s main remit: safety. As a rule, but more importantly as a concrete application of the rule given. Constant surveillance, rigorous, impartial and independent from the economic interests of this sector that are also of great importance: the greater the growth that we hope for as forecast by the economic recovery, the greater the professional responsibility that we will have to demonstrate. Safety as an issue is so precious, that every human life has an incalculable value. That is why “zero accidents” is not an objective that can be waived. We need to maintain this result that has lasted for so long, ever since the tragic events at Linate, whose painful and memory is linked to the tribute that we have awarded to Paolo Pettinaroli, who recently passed away after devoting the final years of his life to air safety, together with many men and women who will continue his work and who are valuable advisors, witnesses, and vigilant friends. A life that, as happens in many cases, had already left him with the loss of his son due to a tragic mistake. The best way to remember him is to continue to do our job better every day, all of us: airport operators, flying supervisors, security forces, companies and individuals. We all need to be convinced that to avoid casualties, as is our duty, we need to do a lot more, that we can never be satisfied with ourselves. Naturally, technology helps us: it reduces the risks of machinery, it perfects their performance, it leads to a reduction in collateral damage, such as fuel consumption, pollution and impact on the environment. However, each technological leap must correspond to an increase in human responsibilities, a constant upgrading in care and supervision of machines. A hard, stimulating professional task to which thousands of people, no longer just Italians, are devoted. Two thirds of our passengers now travel aboard non-Italian planes, meaning European or non-European. The world has grown and the rise of new air carriers, both in terms of low cost carriers and new geographical areas of the world such as the Emirates or China, leads us to an additional process of redefining institutions, rules and behaviors. There is still a growing necessity for coordination that is not only regulatory, which has been in place for years now, but also administrative, according to the principle of reciprocal interference, both in terms of supervision and collaboration. The SAFA (Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft) inspections need to be strengthened in the same way as collaboration agreements in all fields, including health. We are working in this direction: in complete autonomy, with a level of independence that was conquered not only on a formal level, but which has become the practice of assuming responsibility, as provided for by our Constitution. As a public non-economic body, ENAC enjoys a great degree of autonomy precisely because it is called upon to implement non-national guidelines, in a framework that is nevertheless respectful of national sovereignty, as exercised through ministerial supervision and guidelines in terms of adapting to the community approach and to the Italian Parliament. Civil aviation, in fact, is based on a regulatory and supervision structure that makes it unique in our administrative system and allows it to be, and to appear, independent. We are an independent Authority both on the technical aeronautical level and in terms of economic regulation. We act as a de-facto economic regulator, having already 4 ENAC REPORT AND SOCIAL BALANCE 2014 CONTRIBUTIONS completed the scheduled programs with all airports of a certain importance in the previous four-year period, and having been tasked by Italian law with continuing to also fulfill the role of economic regulatory authority for the three major airport systems, those operating in accordance with the so called derogation contracts. Essentially, in this case, the principle of independence required by the community directive 2009/12/CE has been recognised and formally communicated to the Commission.