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The UK has one of the world’s leading aviation industries that ranges from international airlines and manufacturers to a significant general aviation community. We oversee these activities with the aim of maintaining and enhancing the already high levels of safety and protection that the UK public have come to expect.

In the UK, we are using performance based regulation. This is based on an informed and comprehensive understanding of risk, supported by proactive safety performance indicators. It delivers effective oversight that is targeted, timely and proportionate. We aim to continuously improve our processes and our practical application of this performance based regulation.

UK consumers use air transport beyond our national boundaries, so we also continue to actively work with international partners to raise aviation safety standards globally.

Our international influence would not be possible without being underpinned by the UK’s exemplary aviation safety record and our continuous work to challenge and improve. We also seek to allow UK industry to safely develop innovative technologies such as spaceflight. So, we need to constantly look for new ways to achieve these aims and tackle the challenges of the future proactively. One way we are doing this is through our redeveloped UK State Safety Programme (SSP).

The SSP provides the basis through which aviation safety is managed in the UK including in its Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. This new web-based edition is designed to be a living, flexible tool (in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organisation Annex 19 requirements) which shows how the UK is managing aviation safety and engendering trust and confidence in what we do.

The UK Department for Transport (DfT) is in the process of developing a new aviation strategy and a flexible SSP is a key component of this. It will be updated to reflect this evolving strategy. The DfT has agreed that the coordination of the UK SSP should be undertaken by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Finally, any comments on this SSP can be sent to: safety.strategy@caa.co.uk