Aviation Authority And Pilots Formalize Safety Partnership

ENAIRE, Spain's air navigation service provider, and the Official College of Commercial Aviation Pilots (COPAC) have signed a protocol to improve operational and safety coordination in air navigation.

The protocol was signed by ENAIRE Director General Enrique Maurer and COPAC Dean Carlos San José. It covers cooperation and information exchange on flight operations and air navigation. The agreement runs two years, renewing automatically for further two-year periods up to a maximum of eight years.

Cooperation will cover planning and documenting air navigation studies, advising on safety studies and risk analyses, and contributing to flight procedure design. It also includes reviewing aeronautical information published in the AIP for use by airlines, organizing training activities and seminars, and issuing certified technical advisory reports on operational queries.

Carlos San José, Dean of COPAC, said: “This agreement is particularly significant because it brings together pilots’ operational perspective and ENAIRE’s expertise in air navigation, resulting in more accurate information for professionals and improved safety for air transport users in Spain.”

Enrique Maurer said it was excellent news to be able to work even more closely with COPAC, because “drawing on pilots’ experience and knowledge is essential to improving our service as an air navigation service provider. ENAIRE and COPAC have long enjoyed an excellent relationship, but being able to take that relationship a step further and work even more closely together is great news for both organisations and will ultimately mean better service for the public and the aviation sector.”

ENAIRE and COPAC have worked together for years, including on the Observatory for Safety, Efficiency and Sustainability of Air Operations, launched in 2019, which collects and analyses flight data to identify areas for improvement and promote the wider adoption of best practices among both pilots and controllers. The signing of this new protocol extends that cooperation, further strengthening safety.