Commercial aircraft safety in operations

Everyone in our industry has a role to play to further enhance the safety of commercial air transport.

Flying today is safer than ever before, and collective efforts continue to ensure that it will be even safer by anticipating and responding to risks, threats, and challenges. Our commitment to providing support for the safety of Airbus aircraft in operation applies for as long as an aircraft is in service. We have a worldwide network of safety representatives, working in the field, hand in hand with our customers, subcontractors, and suppliers.

Our Customer Services team secures, facilitates, and optimises the operations of Airbus aircraft, in order to ensure and enhance product safety, and contribute to increased sustainability.

Our team of technical experts and specialists provide support to our customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We support a fleet of over 12,000 Airbus aircraft in service around the world, operated by more than 400 customers, and we respond to technical queries from our customers on a daily basis.

We exchange information with our customers about their operational experience on Airbus aircraft, and we work with them to understand and address any issues that could affect safety. Our safety team leads projects and establishes partnerships to enhance safety for  operations in all regions around the world. Our aim is to work together with our customers to continually increase safety standards. Capturing information about in-service events is one of the key contributions enabling us to enhance the safety of Airbus products and services.

Training is one of the key enablers for safety of aircraft in operations. The Airbus flight training concept reinforces the company’s focus on pilot competencies. To provide self-paced functional learning for theory and practice, the Airbus Cockpit Experience (ACE) trainer uses a “learning by discovery” approach. Hands-on training is also introduced at an early stage with the Airbus Pilot Transition (APT) trainer and Full Flight Simulator (FFS).

We help flight crews, cabin crews, and ground crews to have what they need - the knowledge, skills, and attitude required to safely operate and maintain Airbus aircraft. Our training and services continue to evolve with our aircraft, and are regularly updated using the latest training technology.

Sharing safety information has proven to prevent accidents. This is why we have created several initiatives using a wide range of communication means and techniques, enabling us to share information to ensure the safest level of operation of the Airbus fleet.  Sharing safety knowledge, good practices, safety success stories, and lessons learned contributes to safety enhancements within Airbus and across the entire air transport system.

Our safety information sharing initiatives include:

• Safety first: The Airbus safety magazine that Airbus pilots and other aviation professionals can easily access via the website and Safety first app. Airbus Safety first shares information and lessons learned about safety topics related to the design, maintenance, and operation of Airbus aircraft. 
• FAST: The Airbus technical magazine talking about Flight, Airworthiness, Support and Technology
• Flight Safety Conference: An opportunity for clear and open dialogue between us and our Operators. The objective of the conference is to share relevant safety information and lessons learned with airline safety officers.
• Destination 10X Together (D10X): A project developed together with Airbus Operators to share the safety initiatives which have proven effective, collect new ideas, develop tools, and make them available on a common platform.
• Airbus Worldwide Instructor News (Airbus WIN): A platform that provides Airbus Flight Instructors worldwide with videos, presentations and other information from the Airbus Flight Operations and Training Standards department. It can be accessed via the website and the Airbus WIN app.
• Statistical Analysis of Commercial Aviation Accidents: The Airbus analysis of aviation accidents and a review of the safety record for commercial jet aircraft.
• Safety Promotion Centre: It was created to enhance the safety culture at Airbus. The centre encourages a deeper personal engagement of our employees with safety and to cultivate an accident prevention mindset. 

The use of digital technologies enables a “big-data” approach to monitoring and analysing in-service data and events, and is part of the Airbus safety process. Such technologies help us to make further progress in identifying any potential safety issues as early as possible, and to use data to enhance decision-making.