The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on January 7 issued a final regulation that requires most U.S. passenger and cargo airlines to implement a safety management system (SMS) by 2018. Airlines must submit their SMS plans to the FAA within six months of the rule’s effective date in early March.
During a press conference to announce the final rule at the Department of Transportation headquarters in Washington, D.C., FAA Administrator Michael Huerta described SMS as “an organization-wide approach to mitigating risk in airline operations” that analyzes data to proactively predict accident causes. More than 90 percent of U.S. airlines already share some level of data with the agency or participate in a voluntary SMS program, he said. Among requirements of the final regulation, airlines must appoint a “single accountable executive” to oversee their SMS programs. “What it does is foster a stronger safety culture,” said Huerta.
Also speaking during the press conference, Airlines for America president and CEO Nicholas Calio said many of the trade association’s member airlines have implemented SMS pilot programs in the past couple of years. “Airlines are fierce competitors—everybody knows that—except on safety,” Calio said. “We think it’s a very good program.”
According to a copy of the final rule, which will be published in the Federal Register on January 8, the FAA’s accident investigation office singled out 123 accidents involving Part 121 air carriers between Fiscal Years 2001 and 2010 “for which identified causal factors could have been mitigated if air carriers had implemented an SMS to identify hazards in their operations and developed methods to control the risk.”
Congress required the FAA to develop a rule requiring all Part 121 air carriers to implement an SMS program—originally by July 30, 2012—in the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010. While applying to U.S. carriers, the rule will also serve as a “best practice” example for foreign carriers within the framework of the International Civil Aviation Organization, Huerta said.
The FAA estimates the rule will cost the industry $224.3 million over 10 years, or $135.1 million at present value, to implement. It is offering airlines a federally developed software system to begin. The system will cost the FAA $2.6 million per year to maintain, the agency said.