Article 1 of 2 Singapore Airlines Flight SQ321, Thailand, May 21, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer
MONTREAL/TOKYO, Aug 26 (Reuters) – Asian aviation authorities are calling for global action to reduce injuries caused by turbulence, as high-profile recent incidents prompt calls for better cross-country forecasting at a meeting of regulators in Montreal that begins on Monday.
It is one of several topics being addressed by regulators around the world at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) aviation conference, which runs until September 6.
Countries including Japan, Korea and Singapore want to include turbulence as a category in ICAO’s Global Aviation Safety Plan 2026, which outlines industry priorities, according to working papers from the event. ICAO said its 193 member states will make a decision at its triennial assembly next year.
Japan and other countries would like ICAO to improve real-time coordination in the cross-border sharing of weather and turbulence data, while countries would also take steps to make alerts more user-friendly for pilots, an official at the country’s civil aviation agency said.
Some countries in Asia are taking initial steps to make this information, which is now usually communicated in text format, more visually accessible.
According to the ICAO Safety Report 2024, turbulence was responsible for around 40 percent of all accidents involving large aircraft on scheduled services last year.
Although it is not currently mandatory in Japan, the airline All Nippon Airways now voluntarily shows a safety video at the beginning and during the flight to prevent turbulence-related accidents.
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Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and Maki Shiraki in Tokyo. Additional reporting by Lisa Barrington in Seoul, editing by William Maclean
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