The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which is the representative body for the global airline industry, has urged governments to fulfil their obligations under the Convention of International Civil Aviation (better known as the Chicago Convention) to publish aviation accident reports that are both thorough and timely.

Under Annex 13 of the Chicago Convention, States responsible for accident investigations must submit a preliminary report, to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), within 30 days of an accident; publish a publicly available final report as soon as possible, and within 12 months of the accident; or, should it not be possible to compile a final report within that 12-month period, to publish interim statements on a yearly basis.

“The accident investigation process is one of our most important learning tools when building global safety standards,” stressed IATA director-general Willie Walsh. “But to learn from an accident, we need reports that are complete, accessible and timely.”

Failure to provide such reports in a timely manner prevents all concerned aviation stakeholders, including airlines, air traffic management services, airports, original equipment manufacturers and regulators, from gaining access to information that is critical to further improving aviation safety.

IATA highlighted that, of the 214 accident investigations carried out in the period 2018 to 2022, only 96 had met the requirements of the Chicago Convention. And of those, in just 31 were the final reports published within 12 months; in 58 cases, the final reports were published between one and three years after the accident. Moreover, in many cases involving long-running investigations, the required annual interim statements just provided slight updates (if that) on the preliminary report.

“Over the past five years, fewer than half of the required accident reports meet [sic] the standards for thoroughness and timeliness,” he emphasised. “This is an inexcusable violation of requirements stated clearly in the Chicago Convention. As an industry we must raise our voice to governments in defence of the accident investigation process enshrined in Annex 13. And we count on ICAO to remind States that the publication of a complete accident report is not optional, it is an obligation under Annex 13 of the Chicago Convention.”