EU and China Strengthen Their Partnership in Madrid

The Spanish Aviation Safety and Security Agency (AESA) hosts the second Aviation Safety conference between the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) supported by the EU-China Aviation Partnership project (APP). The EASA- CAAC Conference consolidates its status as main discussion platform for the Chinese and European stakeholders after its first edition in April 2017.

Pedro Saura García, Spanish Secretary of State of Infrastructures, Transport and Housing opened the event on 29 October 2018 together with Patrick Ky, EASA Executive Director, Lyu Erxue, CAAC Deputy Administrator and Isabel Maestre, AESA Executive Director.

China has a fast developing aviation sector and has strengthened its relationship with Europe and EASA in different areas over recent years. This dialogue has been formalised in the discussions for the signature of the future Bilateral Air Safety Agreement (BASA), which is currently under negotiation between China and the EU.

Furthermore, the cooperation has been already proven successful with the current EU-China Aviation Partnership project (APP) led by EASA. The project covers a wide range of areas of mutual interest: development of the General Aviation (GA) sector, airworthiness certification, safety promotion activities and Air Traffic Management (ATM) modernization.

With this basis, the level of exchange has increased considerably over the last years in areas of joint interest, such as cooperation at ICAO level, in the ATM domain, ramp-inspections, and validation of products from both Europe and China. Continued cooperation on flight standards and drones are becoming more prominent themes for both regions.

Focusing on topics such as the developments achieved in Aircraft certification, Airports and security, advances and technological trends in passenger transport and the cooperation in General Aviation operations and ATM, the EASA - CAAC Aviation Safety Conference highlights the partnership between Europe and China.  This event intends to enhance cooperation among European and Chinese regulators to accommodate new emerging technologies in aviation and expectations from aviation industry actors and passengers.

Patrick Ky, EASA's Executive Director commented: “We will continue to strengthen our cooperation with our global partners with whom we share a vision of enhancing aviation safety worldwide.”

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is the centerpiece of the European Union's strategy for aviation safety. Our mission is to promote and achieve the highest common standards of safety and environmental protection in civil aviation. Based in Cologne, the Agency currently employs more than 800 experts and administrators from all over Europe.