It could take Southeast Asia, one of the fastest growing air travel markets, two decades to set up a regulatory body to oversee safety in an industry blighted by disasters in recent years, according to National Regulators and Airline Executives.
The need for tougher regulations gained urgency following this month’s report by Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) into the crash of an Indonesia AirAsia A320 passenger jet last year that killed all 162 on board.
Investigators found no single cause for the crash, but listed a combination of factors.
AirAsia founder Tony Fernandez has himself led calls for the ASEAN to forge a common aviation regulator, saying ASEAN Institutions should “Step forward, for commonality, and for standardization, and for quality”.
But the 10-nation group is already struggling to implement an open skies initiative, or single aviation market, to liberalize air services by the end of 2015.
Unlike Europe, ASEAN has no legal or executive body to push through liberalization or create regional organizations that oversees safety and air traffic control.