SE Asia Countries Commit To Safety Sharing

Five Southeast Asian countries have signed a groundbreaking agreement to share aviation data and safety information with each other.

Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines have committed to sharing collision warnings, deviations from altitudes assigned by air traffic controllers and activation of warning systems on the ground. Reports of severe air turbulence, windshear, bird strikes and the carriage of dangerous goods will also be shared.

In a joint statement, the countries said that Thailand will be custodians of the data, while Singapore would be the data analyst.

"We hope that this first-of-its-kind initiative in this region will have a catalytic and demonstrative effect and we can onboard more countries to work together to ensure safer skies for the travelling public," said Singapore's Civil Aviation Authority Director General Han Kok Juan.

"This would not have been possible without trust amongst the States involved, a shared commitment to aviation safety and protocols to safeguard confidentiality. ”

The statement added that none of the information shared would be used "to support investigations of accidents and incidents and shall not be used for punitive or enforcement purposes."

Southeast Asia’s aviation sector is still in recovery following the COVID-19 crisis, with airlines trying different measures to ramp up.

The latest OAG data showed total capacity across SE Asia for October 2024 was 38.6m seats, 7.3% higher than October 2023 but still 13.1% behind Oct 2019.