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Rapport
annuel

2023

Putting safety
at the forefront

Traffic volumes increased in 2023 and are nearing pre-health crisis levels. The management of this growing traffic in a still tense environment has not distracted skeyes from its primary mission: to ensure the safety of air traffic, a mission that it performed with excellence in 2023. At skeyes, safety is constantly reviewed and improved and, in an airspace that is preparing for major changes, will always be at the forefront.

Change in number of category A (severe) and B (major)

A (severe) and B (major)

With only 2 category B incidents and no category A incidents, skeyes’ safety performance was its 3rd best ever. This result ranks behind the 2022 result, which follows the absolute record of 2016 when no incidents in these significant categories occurred.

0
Category A incidents
2
Category B incidents
2
category A and B incidents per million movements.
0
category A incidents per million movements.

Reporting of safety-related events

skeyes’ safety culture, which has always guided its actions in the management of safety-related events, is based on the search for causes in order to gain a thorough understanding and take appropriate measures so that a similar event does not occur again.

+1.6%
1755
incident reports in 2023.
+4%
1646
the number of safety-related events identified in 2023 after analysis.
-9%
184
incident reports per 100,000 movements.

Number of incidents reported by skeyes air traffic controllers

skeyes’ responsibility

skeyes bore no responsibility in the vast majority of safetyrelated incidents. In 2023, the involvement of skeyes was only established for 115 events, which represents 7% of the total number of events reported in 2023 (5.6% in 2022, 4.4% in 2020 and 6.3% in 2019).

Regarding the severity of these 115 events, 88 were category E and were therefore considered as having no impact on the level of safety. 25 were category C (significant), 2 category B (major) and 0 category A (severe).

Involvement OF SKEYES IN SAFETY-RELATED EVENTS

category E category C category B category B

The most frequently reported events

In the top three ranking of the most reported events, two places are occupied by events that are completely unrelated to the mission of skeyes, but the reporting of which is required under European legislation: interference with wildlife, with 361 occurrences, tops the list, ahead of inadvertent transmissions of distress signals by ELTs (Emergency Locator Transmitters), in third place, which were reported 151 times in 2023.

Events with the second highest number of reports were intrusions into airspace by general aviation, military or state aircraft pilots. After almost doubling between 2019 and 2022, this type of event saw a slight decrease of 8% in 2023 with 165 reports. 144 incidents of technical problems with aircraft were reported by pilots in 2023 and were in 4th place in the ranking of the most reported events.

In 5th position, for the second consecutive year, there was an increase in incidents relating to blinding of pilots using laser pointers. This further increase of 9% compared to 2022 brings the number of these incidents to 104 in 2023 compared with 95 in 2022 and 79 in 2019. A resurgence of this worrying phenomenon after a significant decrease (this type of incident occupied first place from 2010 to 2015 with more than 200 events reported per year) attributable to the coordinated efforts of skeyes and airport and judicial authorities.

Deviations from ATC authorisations and deviations from ATM procedures ranked in 6th and 7th place respectively. Deviations from ATC authorisations increased by 29%, with 102 events compared to 79 in 2022. There was almost no change with regard to deviations from ATM procedures with 83 events compared to 81 in 2022.

2e
place
165
Intrusion into airspace
5e
place
104
blinding pilots with laser pointers

Events that decreased between 2022 and 2023

2023 2022

The main mission of skeyes air traffic controllers is to ensure that safe distances between aircraft are maintained. Non-compliance with minimum separations often directly involves air traffic control and can lead to more severe incidents (A and B). While there was a 34% increase in such events in 2023 (51 events) compared to 2022 (38 events), only one was classified as a category B safety incident impacting the overall level of safety. The involvement of keyes was confirmed for 42 of these incidents (i.e. 82%) in 2023, for 28 incidents in 2022 (74%), for 21 incidents in 2021 (88%) and for 35 in 2019 (80%).

Runway incursions are another type of event that directly concerns skeyes’ safety performance. In 2023, 44 runway incursions were reported, compared to 42 the previous year, 33 in 2021 and 26 in 2019. skeyes’ involvement in this type of event was limited and decreased in 2023, having been confirmed for only 9 such incursions. skeyes was not responsible for any of the 12 runway incursions reported at Brussels Airport in 2023. Finally, events related to drone flights in unauthorised areas were the subject of 26 incident reports, all reported by pilots, mainly in the CTRs of Brussels, Charleroi and Antwerp airports.

Events that increased between 2022 and 2023

2023 2022

Exceeding European performance targets

In the FABEC performance plan that contains the targets for improving performance at European level, the effectiveness of the Safety Management System (SMS) is assessed by an ongoing audit in six areas.

For skeyes, the EoSM indicator – Effectiveness of Safety Management – was accompanied by a target to be achieved for this 3rd reference period (2019-2024), which consists of increasing the level in at least three of these areas of study..

6

skeyes has increased the maturity level of its SMS in 6 areas.

11

Number of areas of assessment of SMS maturity in which skeyes exceeds European performance targets.

Efficiency all along the line

Digital innovation in motion

In line with a sustainable future