By
Daniel Michaels
BRUSSELSÑAfter
a delay of almost two years, the U.S. and the European Union appear ready to
cement an air-safety pact that both sides say should improve aviation oversight
and save millions of dollars annually by eliminating duplicate efforts.
agreement was reached in 2008 but languished amid opposition in the U.S.
Congress. That fight now appears resolved. As a result, the EU on Monday gave
its final approval of the pact, which could come into force as soon as May 1.
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the deal, U.S. and EU air-safety agencies will recognize each other’s
inspections and analysis. That should allow the U.S. Federal Aviation
Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency to share information and
avoid duplicating efforts, officials said.
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coordination also will help harmonize air-safety rules in the world’s two
biggest aviation markets, reducing costs and confusion for airlines, pilots and
manufacturers.
longer, for example, will a U.S. manufacturer need to submit paperwork to
regulators on both sides of the Atlantic. The U.S. has separate safety
agreements with about a dozen European countries. The new deal will replace
those with a single accord covering the 27 members of the EU.
deal is “a positive signal for broader cooperation” between the U.S.
and EU in areas such as aircraft certification and pilot licensing, EU
Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said through a spokeswoman.
safety agreement will allow the U.S. and the European Union to build deeper and
broader working relationships in a range of areas, including aircraft design
and maintenance,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood through a
spokeswoman.
Boeing Co. spokesman said the agreement “is extremely important” for
the airplane maker because it eases safety approvals for airplane exports.
Other U.S. and European aviation companies would get similar benefits.
pact’s enactment also will have an indirect benefit of improving the flow of
safety data across the Atlantic. The FAA and EASA both collect and analyze vast
amounts of information that allows safety experts to spot dangerous trends in
such areas as cockpit procedures or incidents in which aircraft overshoot
runways. Sharing such data had been impeded while the safety agreement was on
hold.
United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization in October
established a voluntary network to foster data sharing across borders. Industry
officials said the network should get a boost from closer links between the FAA
and EASA.
no better way to create a safe system than to have two competent regulators
looking at the same operator and sharing data,” said Bill Voss, president
of the Flight Safety Foundation, a nonprofit group based in Alexandria, Va.
of the most contentious elements of the U.S.-EU agreement had been the mutual
recognition of safety inspections for aircraft-repair facilities. Commercial
planes flying internationally often are maintained far from home, and countries
for years have sent inspectors to assess foreign facilities.
and European air-safety officials earlier this decade agreed that their
standards were comparable and they could trust each other’s inspections so
didn’t need to duplicate efforts.
some U.S. politicians said the plan to eliminate routine FAA inspections of
European maintenance endangered safety. Former Rep. James Oberstar in 2009
proposed legislation mandating FAA overseas inspections, which would have
violated the pending safety agreement and put it on hold.
Minnesota Democrat lost his seat in November and his provisions were removed
from draft legislation. The shift heartened EU transportation officials, who
approved the air-safety deal late Monday.
coming days the two sides expect to exchange diplomatic notes, officially
sealing the pact, the Agreement Between the U.S. and the European Community on
Cooperation in the Regulation of Civil Aviation.
executives said the U.S. has more to gain from the agreement than Europe
because more European planes are maintained in the U.S. than vice versa.
Roughly 1,200 U.S. repair shops have certification by foreign authorities on
top of their FAA certification. About 400 European facilities are certified to
maintain U.S. planes.