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The senior minister pointed out the importance of upskilling aviation professionals to meet new demands, technologies, and developments in the industry, and to ensure they keep up-to-date on safety measures.
In a panel discussion at the ICAO Global Implementation Support Symposium on 30 May 2023 (Tuesday), Senior Minister of State for Transport, Dr Amy Khor, talked about measures that need to be taken for the recovery, sustainability, and competitiveness of Singapore’s aviation sector.
As noted, the government targets to have Changi Airport Terminal 5 fully operational by the mid-2030s, and is utilising data and information technology to increase capacity, minimise the reliance on labour, and ensure passenger experience is optimised.
In that vein, Dr Khor touched on three additional areas of focus in driving the overall sector forward, and to "pandemic-proof" it: capability building, safety, and capability development.
In regards to capability building, she pointed out that while it is important to build the ‘hardware’ in terms of infrastructure, it is also crucial to build ‘software’ in terms of the upskilling of aviation professionals to meet new demands, technologies, and developments in the industry, and to ensure they keep up-to-date on safety measures, to ensure the aviation sector continues to be safe and secure.
For safety, she said, the government recognises that safety and security will always be a concern regardless of the pandemic situation. " So, safety cannot be taken for granted. It is something that has to be paramount and top of mind for everyone, because everybody's safety also affects the safety of all other airports and the aviation sector as a whole.” Following this, the government is looking at how Singapore can be a thought leader for navigation and navigation safety standards.
This year, for instance, saw the launch of the Asia Pacific Centre for Air Navigation Safety, supported by the Flight Safety Foundation in Singapore. This is in hopes to raise safety awareness and skills through compiling knowledge-sharing information, as well as experiences and expertise.
Finally, in terms of capability development, a current measure is that the Singapore Aviation Academy provides training for aviation workers, even during the pandemic where they adapted to an online format and progressed to hybrid learning. This format of learning both online and in person will be continued.
Dr Khor stressed: " We can never be fully prepared for the next pandemic because we don't know what the characteristics of the next pandemic will be. But I think all of us should learn valuable lessons and try and “pandemic-proof” our infrastructure, as well as the way we do business as much as possible.”
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Photo: Dr Amy Khor's Facebook
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