After the Singapore Airlines turbulence incident that left one dead and at least 20 injured, many global airlines are reviewing their safety and seatbelt policies. Several of them are now in talks with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to join their Turbulence Awareness platform that shares data from multiple airlines.
“There are a few that have reviewed [their policies],” said Nick Careen, Senior VP, Operations, Safety and Security, IATA.
“We have seen an increased interest in the Turbulence Awareness platform. We have been in talks with several airlines across the world. Any time there is an incident that close to home, for sure you are going to reevaluate the procedures, reinforce some and improve them if possible.”
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Careen was speaking at the three-day IATA annual general meeting that began in Dubai on Sunday. Currently, there are only 21 airlines feeding data into the platform using 2,400 aircraft. He said the idea was that airlines could avoid routes where turbulence is reported.
“Where it is a challenge is when you can’t see [the turbulence],” he said. “With increased data, it will allow us to make better decisions. It will show us where the most trouble can occur and which routes to avoid, which is almost impossible to forecast.”
Last week, Emirates Airlines joined the IATA Turbulence Aware platform to record such incidences with high accuracy and in real time. The airline has equipped 140 of its aircraft with the means to plot the best paths around affected areas for enhanced safety, efficient navigation, and optimisation of flight plans.
Increase in turbulence
There have been increasing instances of turbulence reported throughout the world. Shortly after the Singapore Airlines incident, 12 passengers of a Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Dublin were injured due to turbulence. In December last year, an Emirates flight from Perth to Dubai had also experienced a similar incident, leaving some passengers and crew slightly injured.
However, according to Careen, this doesn’t mean that turbulence is occurring more commonly than before. “There have been increasing instances of such incidents being reported,” he said. “That is a good thing because what gets measured can be fixed. There has been a greater awareness about it because we have had some significant incidents recently.”
He elaborated that this does not necessarily mean it is related to the weather. “There have been some studies about potential environmental factors,” he said. “That is still something that we are monitoring but we don’t have any proof that it is all environmentally driven.”
A British study published last year had indicated that flight turbulence was increasing as a result of global warming. Scientists at Reading University in the UK studying clear-air turbulence had found that severe turbulence had increased 55% between 1979 and 2020 on a typically busy North Atlantic route.
Other safety issues
During his address to the media, Careen pointed out some other air safety issues that have been affecting the industry. According to figures, 52 per cent of accidents since 2018 lack a final published report, despite it being a requirement. “We need governments to step up and put pressure on countries that are not filing these reports on time,” he said. “Why this is important is because we want to learn from them.”
Another safety issue that he addressed were the increasing instances of jamming and spoofing of airline global navigation systems.
“Jamming means blocking the signal and spoofing is sending erroneous information,” he said. “We are seeing a 40 per cent increase in it since we began measuring it in early 2023. We are seeing this in Europe and the Middle East. Most of the instances in Europe are directly related to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The Middle East has always been a challenge depending on location and certain geopolitical issues.”