The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced the signing of a Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) to establish a Global Safety Predictive Analytics Research Center (SPARC) in Singapore. The MoC was signed by Alexandre de Juniac, IATA's Director General and CEO, and Kevin Shum, Director-General of CAAS.

SPARC will utilise predictive analytics to identify potential aviation safety hazards and assess related risks by leveraging the research capabilities in Singapore, and operational flight data and safety information that are available under IATA's Global Aviation Data Management (GADM) initiative.

End users across the aviation community can then work collaboratively at the system level to address and implement appropriate safety measures to mitigate the risks, or even to prevent the occurrences of safety hazards.

The first area of focus for SPARC will be runway safety, such as runway excursions, which are the most frequent category of accidents in recent years, according to IATA's analysis.

De Juniac explains that, with the decline in the number of accidents there is a need for a system-based, data-driven, predictive approach to preventing accidents, including analysing the more than 10,000 flights that operate safely every day.

IATA says the cutting-edge approach to flight safety risk management as envisioned in the SPARC initiative will require a mindset change. In the coming months, the SPARC project team plans to work closely with the industry and its stakeholders to develop safety predictive models to ensure that the output generated meets the industry's current and future needs.