Annual Programmes & Reports

This page give an overview over EASA’s key programming documents, EASA’s plans and the accomplished achievements.

Single Programming Document (SPD)

Every year, EASA publishes the Single Programming Document (SPD) containing a multi-year view on the activities it strives to achieve over the next three years. Its name is derived from the fact that today it merges a number of policy documents into one. The SPD describes the resources available to the Agency and how these resources will be deployed in order to achieve a safer European Aviation Space. Hence: 

  • it is aligned with the European Plan for Aviation Safety
  • one section describes the annual work programme, detailing objectives and expected results including performance indicators 
  • one section contains the multi-annual work programme and sets out the overall mid-term priorities of the Agency
  • it contains a description of the actions to be financed and an indication of the financial and human resources allocated to each action, in accordance with the principles of activity-based budgeting and management

The SPD is prepared by the Agency and ultimately adopted by EASA’s Management Board in December, in the year prior to its entering into force.


Consolidated Annual Activity Report (AAR)

The consolidated annual activity report describes the way in which the Agency has implemented its annual work programme, budget and staff resources. The report shall outline the activities carried out by the Agency and evaluate the results thereof with respect to the objectives, performance indicators and timetable set, the risks associated with those activities, the use of resources and the general operations of the Agency, and the efficiency and effectiveness of the internal control systems. 

The Consolidated Annual Activity Report (AAR) is prepared by EASA between February and May and then adopted in June by EASA’s Management Board. It provides its members and interested third parties a comprehensive overview of the Agency’s successes. 


European Plan for Aviation Safety (EPAS)

The European Plan for Aviation Safety (EPAS) is a key component of EASA's integrated Safety Management System (SMS) at the European level, and is constantly being reviewed and improved. As an integral part of the EASA Work Programme, the Plan is developed by the Agency in consultation with the Member States and industry through the SRM process.

The Member States are committed to the implementation of the Plan through their State programmes and plans. The EPAS covers a five year period and addresses 3 key-issues: 
 
Systemic Issues: Such problems affect aviation as a whole and play a role in accidents and incidents. As they may affect operational issues, improvements can have an implicit effect on operational causes. An example of a sys¬temic issue is the potential danger that can occur if tasks and responsibilities are not properly distributed among operational staff. 
 
Operational Issues: These issues are closely related to events reported during operations and are brought to light through data analysis. The operational issues are split into 2 parts, which form the basis of the safety risk portfolios that are provided in this review: 
  • Key Risk Areas: The key risk areas are the accident outcomes that the EPAS seeks to stop from happening. Examples of these are aircraft upset (loss of control), runway excursions or runway collisions. 
  • Safety Issues: These are the causal and contributory factors that lead to the key risk areas (accident out¬comes). Examples of safety issues are icing in flight, or pilot awareness and decision making. 

Emerging Issues: These are suspected problems that are to be expected or anticipated in the future. Examples of emerging issues include new cybersecurity threats or risks associated with flying over conflict zones.

The European Plan for Aviation Safety includes also the Rulemaking Programme (RMP) and is organised in four drivers: safety, environment, efficiency/proportionality and level playing field. The Strategy and Programmes Department is responsible for its development.
 
More information on the European Plan for Aviation Safety.

Annual Safety Review (ASR)

The Annual Safety Review (ASR) has been published since 2005 and each edition continues the evolution of the review from previous years with further safety risk portfolios being provided.

The analysis aims to identify the most common key risk areas (outcomes) and associated safety issues that lead to accidents in each of the different operational aviation domains.

Within the safety risk portfolios, event types in the ECCAIRS/ADREP Taxonomy have been matched as closely as possible to the different safety issues. However, perfect matches were not possible in all cases and therefore the numbers should be taken as indicative of the general number of occurrences that relate to each safety issue.