BUSINESS NEWS days after Iata celebrated the rapid growth of aviation in India. Ian Taylor reports


Iata reports 175% rise in jamming of satellite systems


There has been “a sharp rise” in the jamming and spoofing of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs) on aircraft, according to Iata. GNSS interference rates rose


175% last year, with incidents most prevalent over Egypt, Iraq and Turkey, and Iata recording 7.7 million ‘GPS loss’ events. The association’s director


general, Willie Walsh, said: “The sharp rise in GNSS interference events is deeply concerning. Reliable navigation is fundamental to safe flight operations. Immediate steps by governments and air navigation service providers are needed to stop this.” Iata reported in 2023 that


interference had grown markedly over the previous two years.


There were 7.7m ‘GPS loss’ events last year


‘Fire risk of lithium batteries exacerbated by passenger action’


Jamming involves interference


to aircraft communications and positional information. Spoofing involves fake GNSS signals. Nick Careen, Iata senior


vice-president for operations, security and safety, said: “The equipment we use today relies on GPS only and we need an alternative. A technology change is possible, but it takes time.” He explained: “This happens


around conflict zones. Except during take-off or landing, the risk primarily is complacency [about a collision warning]. That is what concerns us.”


The Boeing 787-8 which crashed last week had an unblemished safety record, although the aircraft was grounded for several months in 2013 due to the fire risk of its lithium batteries. The 787 represented


a step change in aircraft technology at the time, with electric rather than hydraulic control systems powered by lithium-ion batteries. But battery fires aboard several 787s led to the grounding before a fix was developed – encasing the batteries so a fire could not spread. However, the lithium batteries


in air passengers’ laptops, cameras, hand-held devices and battery packs remain a significant safety concern.


Iata’s Nick Careen reported two


recent incidents of lithium battery fires on aircraft in Singapore and Korea – one involving a “total loss” of an aircraft though no deaths – and insisted: “Phones, laptops, cameras and battery-operated items must be carried in hand luggage, not


checked baggage.” He said problems can


occur at the boarding gate when passengers are requested to put cabin bags in the hold, saying: “Passengers must remove all devices.” But he acknowledged this does not always happen, saying “undeclared lithium batteries” do lead to fires, adding “there is no real way of measuring” whether passengers comply.


Crash reports ‘must be published’


The investigation into the crash of an Air India Boeing 787 on take-off from Ahmedabad airport, in which 241 passengers and crew died and up to 30 people were killed on the ground, can be expected to take weeks if not months to report its preliminary findings. A team from the UK Air


Accidents Investigation Branch will assist the investigation bureau of India as UK citizens were aboard, as will a team from the US and Boeing. The investigation will be helped by


retrieval of the cockpit voice recorder on Monday which, together with the flight data recorder found last Friday, form the aircraft’s ‘black box’ – crucial to establishing what happened. However, days before the crash, Iata highlighted how air accident


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investigation reports are too often withheld by governments. The association reported seven


fatal accidents last year, involving 244 deaths, with director general Willie Walsh telling Iata’s annual general meeting in Delhi on June 1: “Our aim remains zero accidents, [but] there are two areas where government inaction is holding us back. “First, less than half the accident


investigations over the last six years have published a final report.” Second, he accused unnamed


governments of failing in “the effective sharing of information to keep civil aircraft safe as conflict zones proliferate”. Walsh labelled the failure to publish


accident reports a “dereliction of duty”, saying: “Missing insights from accident


reports are lost safety opportunities. This must be addressed as a priority.” Iata reported 57% of accident


investigations were published between 2018 and 2023, including 66% of those in Europe. Nick Careen, Iata senior vice-


president for operations, security and safety, said: “Accident reports must be complete, accessible and timely. This


Willie Walsh


is a state’s obligation. Burying accident reports for political considerations is completely unacceptable.” He explained: “It can be a


jurisdiction does not wish to communicate sensitive information. Sometimes there is a technical reason. If capacity is the blocker, we need a global effort to provide technical support to countries.” Asked about comments by US


President Trump following a mid-air collision in Washington in January, Careen criticised the “politicisation of investigations”, saying: “Comments by politicians aren’t helpful. We’re interested in the facts of what happened and action to correct it.” There is no suggestion the report


into the Air India crash could be delayed.


19 JUNE 2025 47


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