Prospect calls for CAA to be broken up (prospect.org.uk)

September 23, 2015

Prospect has called for the UK’s aviation regulator to be split up, in a letter to transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin, amid concerns that safety is no longer its paramount concern.

The union, which represents more than 5,000 aviation specialists, reached the conclusion that the Civil Aviation Authority’s regulatory functions should be separated after extensive research for its new policy report: “Towards a sustainable aviation industry for the UK”.

The document draws on the experience of air traffic controllers, air traffic systems specialists, licensed aircraft engineers and CAA staff in Prospect’s membership.

Steve Jary, Prospect national secretary, writes: “We have come to question the combined responsibility for both economic and safety regulation in the CAA. We are not convinced that this is a good idea in principle…

“…there is growing evidence that the CAA is struggling to reconcile these responsibilities with the result that its historical focus on safety is becoming blurred.”

Prospect’s 29-page report highlights the regulator’s light-touch “top-level principles” for general aviation – which make no reference to safety – as well as the increasing prevalence of the budget airlines’ “flags of convenience” model, with its emphasis on avoiding tight regulation.

Read “Towards a sustainable aviation industry for the UK”

For further information contact:

Steve Jary
020 7902 6695 (w)
07713 511722 (m)
steve.jary@prospect.org.uk

Andrew Child
020 7902 6681 (w)
07770 304480 (m)
andrew.child@prospect.org.uk

Tags: air traffic controllers, CAA, Prospect, safety