KUWAIT, Nov 26 (KUNA) -- Kuwait's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Acting Chief Duaij Al-Otaibi affirmed Tuesday commitment to enhancing aviation safety standards and ensuring a safer and more sustainable future for the aviation industry.

Al-Otaibi made these remarks while inaugurating the fifth aviation safety summit of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Middle East Office.
He asserted that aviation safety is a priority in the face of increasing challenges of rapid advancements, growth of air traffic and evolving regulatory framework.
The summit will address innovation in safety management, strengthening regional and international partnerships, and developing new mechanisms to ensure aviation safety under all circumstances, he explained.

Al-Otaibi invited participants to share constructive insights and expertise to enrich the discussions and develop practical solutions that contribute to shaping the future of the aviation industry, emphasizing that outcomes will not remain as recommendations but will translate into tangible policies.

As for ICAO's regional office director, Mohammad Abu Baker, he spoke of the organization's 2050 strategic goals of zero fatalities in international aviation from accidents and acts of unlawful interference, zero carbon emissions, as well as allowing aviation to become a thriving, connected, accessible, inclusive, and affordable transport system.

The global passenger traffic continued to increase in 2023 with around 4.2 billion passengers transported worldwide, up from 3.2 billion passengers in 2022, revealed Abu Baker, indicating that it remains slightly below pre pandemic ( 2019 ) levels with 4.5 billion passengers having been transported worldwide.

He highlighted that number of flight departures for scheduled commercial operations continued to increase by approximately 13 percent with over 35 million departures in 2023, compared to around 31 million in 2022.
There was a 3.1 percent increase in the total number of accidents, he stated, noting that the flight departures increased around 13 per cent during the same period of time.

Abu Baker spoke of the decrease of global accident rate of 1.87 accidents per million departures in 2023 by 17.9 percent from the 2022 rate of 2.05 accidents per million departures.
He underlined the objective of the summit saying that it is to foster a collaborative approach to managing aviation safety by aligning strategies, sharing experiences, and addressing emerging issues within the region.

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