Three urgent priorities have been thrust into the spotlight in recent aviation gatherings. In Xiamen, China, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) opened its World Safety and Operations Conference (WSOC), focused on defending and evolving global standards, fostering strong safety leadership, and using data to enhance performance amid mounting operational challenges.
At the same time, in Montreal, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly reaffirmed a complementary principle: that social sustainability, fair employment, workforce resilience, and a culture of trust is fundamental to aviation safety and economic development.
Together, these agendas form the two wings of a single flight path toward a safer, more resilient global air transport system.
Social Sustainability is the Human Core of Aviation Safety
In its 42nd Assembly, ICAO underscored that the industry’s recovery has been uneven, largely because of employment instability and declining working conditions since the COVID-19 pandemic. Skilled aviation professionals, pilots, air traffic controllers, maintenance engineers, and ground crew, left the industry in droves, and many have not returned.
The result has been a wake-up call: without socially sustainable workforces, aviation’s economic and safety ambitions cannot take off.
ICAO’s paper, presented by Austria and major labour federations including IFALPA, IFATCA, and ITF, argues that “when workers are prioritised, a non-retribution culture can thrive, and robust reporting of safety issues can result.”
IATA’s Safety Focus: Data, Standards and Leadership
While ICAO focuses on the human and institutional dimensions, IATA’s WSOC 2025 has brought operational precision to the conversation.
Mark Searle, IATA’s Global Director of Safety, opened the conference by warning:
“The environment in which airlines operate has grown even more complex as conflicts and regulatory fragmentation have proliferated. Ensuring aviation remains the safest mode of transport requires strong leadership, robust adherence to global standards, and smarter use of data.”
IATA’s current safety priorities revolve around three main fronts:
- Defending and advancing global standards, particularly in light of rising interference with Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), which has surged by over 200% since 2021. Working with EASA, IATA has launched a GNSS Resilience Plan, urging ICAO to formalise these safeguards through new global guidance.
- Protecting aviation’s radio spectrum from interference linked to 5G and future 6G expansion, a challenge that has already caused operational disruptions in several markets.
- Improving accident investigation timeliness, as only 58% of global accidents between 2019 and 2023 have produced final reports.
Meanwhile, data-driven initiatives like Turbulence Aware, SafetyIS, and risk-based IOSA audits are using shared industry data to predict, prevent, and mitigate safety threats before they escalate. Over 3,200 aircraft now participate in Turbulence Aware, sharing live data to improve flight safety and efficiency.
Leadership and Safety Culture: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Both ICAO and IATA agree that safety leadership begins at the top.
For IATA, this means empowering leaders to cultivate open communication and proactive risk management, an ethos formalised through its Safety Leadership Charter, now covering about 90% of global air traffic.
For ICAO, leadership means embedding social responsibility into every layer of aviation governance. Its collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), formalised in 2022, seeks to strengthen the link between decent work and safe skies. The agreement promotes fair employment, gender equity, and “just transition” policies to ensure aviation workers are not left behind as the industry embraces digital and green technologies.
The African Context: Growth with People at the Centre
Across Africa, the aviation industry is poised for transformation. As new regional airlines emerge and infrastructure investment surges, the continent’s skies are becoming busier than ever. Yet, as ICAO and IATA both highlight, growth without people is unsustainable.
Africa faces unique challenges: skill shortages, uneven regulatory oversight, and the migration of experienced personnel to overseas markets. But it also holds unique potential. With one of the world’s youngest populations and increasing integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), aviation can become a leading employer and economic driver, if countries invest in training, fair working conditions, and long-term workforce stability.
The Next Generation of Aviation Professionals (NGAP) initiative, supported by ICAO, offers a crucial opportunity for African states to develop local talent pipelines while aligning with global safety and social standards.
A Shared Flight Path for the Future
The message from Xiamen and Montreal is unified: Aviation’s future depends not only on technology, data, and compliance, but equally on people, trust, and leadership.
As ICAO and IATA strengthen their collaboration, balancing human sustainability with operational excellence, the industry stands better equipped to navigate the turbulence ahead. For Africa, this convergence of priorities offers both a challenge and an opportunity: to lead by example in building an aviation system that is safe, inclusive, and people-powered.
