Factual Information
80
Aircraft Accident Report
arrange to have a third party perform) safety assessments of their foreign code share partners to ensure that those partners meet the legal criteria necessary to transport U.S. military personnel. The DOT/IG found that the FAA could build on DOD's program and that the FAA must ensure that safety is "a condition of initial and continued approval for international code share arrangements."
The DOT/IG report made the following recommendations to the DOT and the FAA:
- Develop and implement procedures requiring that all U.S. carriers perform safety assessments of foreign carriers as a condition of code share approval and continued authorization. These procedures should include requirements that carriers:
- perform an initial on-site review of all existing, pending, and future code share partners;
- establish review procedures, to be approved by FAA, that will address the content of the assessments and qualifications of staff conducting the assessments;
- develop assessment processes that include review and verification that foreign partners have implemented effective procedures in critical safety areas such as maintenance operations, airworthiness of aircraft, crew qualifications, crew training, flight operations, en-route procedures, emergency response plans, security, and dangerous goods;
- provide copies of safety assessments to FAA for review and acceptance, and make available to FAA, when necessary, information supporting assessment results;
- submit confirmations from senior safety officials that the assessment results were satisfactory and any deficiencies noted have been corrected; and
- coordinate reviews to avoid multiple assessments of foreign carriers code sharing with more than one U.S. partner.
- Coordinate closely with the Department of Defense to maximize the effective use of limited resources between the two agencies, avoid duplication, and establish protocols for the exchange of information about carrier safety assessments. FAA should also consider the safety assessment results in performing IASA reviews.
- Establish procedures for terminating or restricting the use of code share agreements when (1) the Department of Defense determines that adverse safety information warrants prohibiting U.S. military personnel from using a foreign carrier, (2) the U.S. carrier terminates the agreement, or (3) FAA, on its own initiative, makes a similar determination regarding the transport of U.S. passengers.
The DOT/IG report also recommended that the FAA
- Develop oversight procedures for FAA to validate U.S. carriers' safety assessment programs. The validation should include:
