Air Carrier Roundtable Readout

WASHINGTON — Representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration, airline industry and labor organizations met Monday to share safety best practices and discuss how to make the world’s busiest air transportation system even safer.

“Commercial airline travel remains the safest form of transportation in world history,” said Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau. “But the last three months drove home that we need to do more, we need to be better, and we need to do it together.”

During the roundtable at the FAA’s headquarters building in Washington, D.C., participants discussed how airlines use their Safety Management Systems (SMS) to monitor and manage risk associated with airspace complexities; potential uses of artificial intelligence to identify hazards and predict risks; and how SMS and safety culture complement each other in managing risk.

Specific subjects included the FAA’s ongoing analysis of  airports that have charted helicopter routes and nearby airplane traffic, and mixes of faster and slower moving airplanes; ensuring the FAA continually updates industry members on its efforts to integrate artificial intelligence into the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) system to analyze large amounts of data ; exploring additional ways to analyze airspace complexities; and sharing information about how the FAA measures the effectiveness of safety culture and Safety Management Systems.

The FAA will continue the conversation with industry through regular forums such as the Commercial Aviation Safety Team and InfoShare.

Participants in Monday’s forum included representatives from numerous airlines, Airlines for America, the Regional Airline Association, the Cargo Airline Association,  Association of Value Airlines, and National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

Monday’s event was the latest in a series of safety forums the FAA has hosted. These include a general and business aviation call to action, rotorcraft safety roundtable, a listening session about improving the airman medical process, and a ramp worker safety forum.