EASA’s 2018-2022 European Plan for Aviation Safety (EPAS) now includes what the agency calls a “rulemaking cooldown.” Specifically, the plan states, “Delivery of the number of [regulatory] opinions over the next five years has been reduced as compared to the previous years.”
The agency said this reflects the need to put more focus on supporting the implementation of recently adopted regulations and give priority to other means of improving safety, notably focused oversight and safety promotion. “The shift to safety promotion is particularly significant in the field of general aviation,” EASA said.
Overall, the aim of EPAS is to provide a coherent and transparent framework for safety work, helping to identify major risks and defining the actions to take. It also encourages EU member states to implement their own safety programs and share best practices and knowledge.
To give aircraft operators a “comprehensive and coherent vision” of what EASA intends to do in the coming years regarding new regulations, the EPAS program and the agency’s rulemaking program are combined into one document. The agency believes the combination will “improve safety and the environmental performance of the aviation sector."
This year’s edition of the EPAS also covers EASA’s strategy in the areas of international cooperation and technical training. According to EASA executive director Patrick Ky, “Safety actions need to be coordinated more than ever at regional and international levels, which explains the growing role played by regional safety oversight organizations in the field of aviation and the pivotal activity of EASA in this domain.”
European countries under the EASA umbrella are already part of the plan, and the agency is working with ICAO to extend its scope to the 56 states that are part of the ICAO European and North Atlantic region.
