FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, December 18, 2000
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel.: (202) 366-5571
DOT 241-00
U.S. Transportation Secretary Slater Announces Program To Help Improve International Air Safety
U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today announced the launching of a new program to assist other nations in improving their aviation safety.
The program, developed by the Aviation Institute at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), represents the first time that the aviation industry, government regulators in the United States and abroad, and academia have joined together in a partnership to assist aviation officials from around the world in upgrading the oversight of their nation’s airlines in accordance with international civil aviation safety standards.
"A safe, secure, efficient, well-integrated air transportation system is essential to the growth of trade among nations, as well as the health and well-being of our citizens," Secretary Slater said. "This cooperative program and other complementary efforts will provide the kind of technical assistance that our partners in all parts of the world need to meet international standards for air safety and security, as well as support President Clinton’s vision of increased tourism, trade and economic growth in the 21st century."
The program, an outgrowth of the Oct. 13 meeting held by Secretary Slater with the Western Hemisphere transportation ministers in Washington, will be conducted in cooperation with officials from the DOT’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia, who is chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, was the principal sponsor of the program.
The program was authorized by in the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century" (AIR-21) and funded in the recently passed Department of Transportation appropriations bill. It also is part of the department’s wide-ranging effort to enhance safety, which is the top transportation priority of President Clinton and Vice President Gore.
The university has been working closely with the department, multinational agencies, the FAA and U.S. air carriers for several years developing the training program.
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