The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has released a KPMG report detailing the findings from a review of the Office of Airspace Regulation (OAR).
The OAR sits with CASA and regulates the status and procedures of airspace classification in Australia. Formerly an Airservices Australia function, the OAR was transferred to CASA in July 2007.
The report, presented to CASA in May and made public on 8 November, follows an extensive review of the OAR, including public submissions and KPMG's own examinations and both internal and external interviews.
KPMG found that "the current structure and the corresponding allocation of responsibilities and tasks to team is structurally sound", but made ten recommendations where processes could be improved.
- OAR should develop a public strategic plan to provide advice on major initiative and priorities
- Airspace reviews and aeronautical studies should have standard formats and material have greater transparency and defensibility
- Conduct an investigation into whether or not posting Airspace Change Proponent (ACP) details on CASA's website would breach commercial interests
- Create a consolidated database of airspace classifications, current and former, including prior reviews
- Consider amending regulations to extend CASA's powers to gather information
- Re-word Key Performance Indicators to strengthen the link between the activity and the ACP outcome
- CASA should investigate creating an integrated database to improve OAR accuracy and efficiency
- Stakeholder Engagement Group (SEG) to investigate the use of a self-guided on-line portal to direct stakeholders to the correct forum to raise a given issue
- CASA to consider a national representative for RAPACs as permanent member of CASA's national consultative forums
- Recommended strategic plan for the OAR to identify and quantify the likely impact of future challenges.
The full report is available on the CASA website.