The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is conducting an organisational restructure in an effort to improve its regulation of air safety and how it serves the aviation community.
CASA director of aviation safety Mark Skidmore said one of the key objectives of the major change in the organisation’s structure would be to reduce the time people and organisations spent dealing with the regulator.
There would also be a greater emphasis on online services in an effort to “streamline the application, processing and delivery of as many services as possible”. Moreover, the restructure would “streamline CASA’s senior management”.
There would be three main groups under a restructured CASA.
First, a stakeholder engagement group whose role would be to ensure the regulator’s communications with the aviation and broader community was consistent and that information was delivered effectively.
Second, an aviation group will “manage and deliver all collaboration and interaction with the aviation community. This includes entry control, surveillance, regulatory services, standards setting, regulatory development and regulatory implementation”, CASA said in a statement on Thursday.
Third, a sustainability group would provide internal and external support functions.
Skidmore said feedback from industry clearly showed the aviation safety watchdog’s had to improve its interaction with the aviation community at all levels.
“CASA has been consulting widely and often over the past year and now is the time to start delivering real change,” Skidmore said in a statement.
“This change in structure is a vital step in the process of renewing CASA so that our organisation meets the legitimate safety and regulatory needs of the aviation community while delivering the best possible aviation safety system for all Australians.
The restructure would be conducted in stages and was expected to be completed by the middle of 2016, CASA said.
Aviation groups have expressed frustration with the pace of change at CASA, with The Australian Aviation Associations’ Forum (TAAAF), saying in October the organisation was “being swamped by the damage being caused by legacy regulations only now coming into force”.
“New CASA regulations are threatening the viability of industry and especially general aviation operations, with millions of dollars required to be invested for no commensurate safety gains,” TAAAF said in a statement in October.
CASA is currently conducting a tour of Australia seeking feedback from the aviation community on its Flight Plan 2030, a statement of the organisation’s long-term strategic intent that is due to be published by the end of the 2015/16 financial year.
