MOLIT, EASA sign MOU

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) signed a MOU with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) at the Grand Hyatt Incheon. EASA is an organization responsible for aviation safety in Europe that supports the implementation of the aviation safety legal system and certifies the safety of aviation products. Along with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, it is leading aviation safety policies around the world.

Patrick Ky, head of the European Air Safety Administration; Kwon Yong-bok, deputy of Civil Aviation at MOLIT; and Kim Sang-do, director of Aviation Safety Policy at the MOLIT, attended the signing ceremony. MOUs included an education on overall aviation safety, an exchange of training activities, co-hosting workshops and seminars, an exchange of personnel in technical fields, sharing aviation safety information and holding cooperative meetings.

Korea and EASA have decided to sign an additional businessagreement to implement mutual technical certification for aircraft andcomponents manufactured in Europe. Through this, the company has prepared abridgehead to export Korean-made aircraft to Europe.

Korea signed an Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) with theU.S. Federal Aviation Administration in 2008. And in 2014, MOLIT expanded thescope of mutual recognition to smaller aircraft. With the signing of the BASA,Korean companies have opened a way for them to export air products to the U.S.and Boeing. MOLIT believes that the mutual recognition of aircraft parts at asimilar level to that of BASA will extend to Europe in the future.

MOLIT has maintained a partnership with the U.S. FAA, buthas only had intermittent cooperation with EASA in Europe. The MOU was launchedwhen EASA proposed MOLIT to share safety information on civil aircraft when itraised safety issues with North Korea's missile launches in 2017. MOLIT hasagain proposed to expand the scope of cooperation to areas such as education,human resources and exchange of technologies, rather than sharing safetyinformation. After a year of negotiations, Korea and EASA signed an MOU.

EASA is also planning to maintain high levels of cooperationwith South Korea. "EASA currently has business agreements with more than90 countries, most of which are aimed at establishing communication channels,and Korea is looking to sign an unusually deeper level of cooperation,"said Ky, "Korea is an advanced country in aviation safety along withSingapore and the UAE, so we plan to move the relationship further," hesaid.

Yong-bok, said: “We expect exports to be promoted andtechnology exchanges will be expanded, as both sides will accept the technologycertification system for aviation products manufactured in Korea and Europe asmuch as possible. Since we signed a business agreement with the FederalAviation Administration (FAA), it has become easier to export aircraft parts toU.S. aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing, and the MOU will open the way forthem to export small aircraft to Europe or to deliver aircraft parts to Airbus.”