• IATA has identified five recurring trends across its Aviation Safety Culture Survey (I-ASC) assessments, highlighting gaps between safety intentions and employees’ operational experience.
• The findings point to challenges around leadership consistency, operational pressure, trust in reporting systems, safety communication and training.
• IATA said safety culture is strongest when actively monitored and enhanced, while frontline involvement and practical, scenario-based training can help address gaps.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has identified five recurring trends across its Aviation Safety Culture Survey (I-ASC) assessments, highlighting gaps between how organisations intend safety policies to work and how they are experienced by employees.

“Since its launch in 2015, IATA has conducted over 65 aviation safety culture assessments across airlines and aviation service providers worldwide through its IATA Aviation Safety Culture Survey (I-ASC). This tool is designed to capture how safety efforts are perceived and experienced across aviation organizations. When analysed collectively, the findings reveal a consistent pattern across all airlines. They do not point to a lack of commitment. Instead, they highlight subtle gaps where airlines need to maintain their focus,” said in a post.

According to IATA, the findings show that safety culture is strongest when it is actively monitored, discussed and enhanced, but is most at risk when it is simply assumed.

“These patterns are observed even in organisations with well-established safety programs and strong compliance performance,” IATA added.

Leadership commitment

IATA’s analysis found leadership commitment to be consistently one of the strongest drivers of overall safety culture. However, perceptions of safety culture are often less positive among frontline employees than among senior management, revealing a gap between leadership intentions and employees’ day-to-day experience.

While leadership intent is typically strong, employees may observe trade-offs in operational or commercial decisions. IATA said these moments can shape perceptions more strongly than formal messaging or stated priorities.

“Safety culture is defined less by formal statements and more by visible actions and consistent behaviours,” IATA said.

Inconsistencies can weaken trust and create uncertainty among employees over what is genuinely prioritised.

Operational pressures

The assessments also point to fatigue, workload, resource constraints and time pressure as recurring factors affecting safety culture.

Employees reported tension between maintaining operational performance and managing safety risks effectively, particularly in high-pressure environments. IATA said these challenges are not confined to particular roles, business units or regions but reflect broader conditions influencing behaviour across an organisation. As operational pressure increases, decision-making becomes more constrained, trade-offs become more frequent and the likelihood of error increases, according to the presentation.

Trust in safety reporting

Employees generally understand how to report safety concerns and recognise the importance of doing so, IATA found. However, confidence in how those reports are handled is less consistent. The assessments identified uncertainty over how errors are treated in practice, alongside perceptions of inconsistent application, fear of negative consequences and limited visibility over outcomes.

“In many cases, the gap is not in awareness, but in trust,” IATA said.

The association said reporting systems only deliver value when employees trust them. Low confidence can lead to selective reporting, leaving important information and insights unshared and reducing an organisation’s ability to identify risks early.

Communication gaps

IATA also found that employees consistently value safety communication but identify shortcomings in its relevance, clarity and timing. Recurring themes include demand for more role-specific communication, clearer explanations behind decisions and faster sharing of lessons learned.

Employees also seek more opportunities for dialogue on safety issues, including across operational areas. “In many cases, information is available, but it is not always perceived as relevant or actionable,” the presentation said.

IATA warned that when communication feels generic or one-directional, engagement can decline and key messages can lose impact.

Training versus operational reality

Policies, processes and training programmes are generally well established and positively perceived, according to the I-ASC assessments. Challenges can emerge, however, when employees apply them under real operational conditions.

IATA identified process complexity and limited involvement of frontline teams in developing and updating procedures as recurring themes. Employees value training but show a preference for more practical, scenario-based learning reflecting real situations. The gaps become more visible under time pressure or in complex operational environments.

IATA said that when procedures are not fully aligned with operational reality, employees may make informal adjustments to complete their work, potentially introducing “practical drift” and increasing risk over time.

The association also warned that without practical, scenario-based learning grounded in operational situations, training risks remaining theoretical and limiting employees’ ability to respond effectively and proactively to real-world challenges and known hazards.

Identifying unseen risks

IATA said internal assessments can provide useful information, but without a standardised framework, industry benchmarks and independent analysis, organisations may struggle to determine whether problems are isolated or part of a broader systemic pattern. It also highlighted the importance of employees being able to respond openly and honestly to safety assessments, noting this is not always guaranteed in internal surveys.

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