UK CAA publishes strategy document, sets out more agile regulatory policy

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has published a new strategy setting out how it will achieve its new mission: “Protecting people, enabling aerospace”. The strategy will underpin the organisation’s vision to enable a safe, secure, and sustainable aviation and aerospace sector while protecting consumers and the public.

It sets out five key focus areas to set strategic direction and help the regulator to achieve its priorities. These will protect consumers and the public, enable aviation and aerospace to innovate and grow, develop relationships to improve standards globally, and support aviation to improve environmental sustainability.

The new strategy is designed to be agile; it provides the foundations to continue to successfully deliver our core regulatory roles, as well as position ourselves to tackle new challenges and opportunities. It will also give us the flexibility required to respond to unforeseen shocks or seize new opportunities to deliver on our vision. The strategy will be delivered through our annual business planning process. It is designed to be both ‘always on’ and open to change as and when required, and therefore does not have a time period attached to it. In the future, the CAA intends to update its strategy on a yearly basis, as the context changes, and thus so will the Annual Strategic Objectives.

The regulator’s focus will also remain on enhancing the organisation to ensure this strategy can be delivered, including through its customer experience programme,  recruiting new talent to build the next generation of aviation experts, and continuing to productively work with the government.

The strategy refocuses the organisation on its core values, established as doing the right thing, never stopping learning, building collaborative relationships, and respecting everyone. It also reflects recommendations set by both the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the government’s 2023 Arm’s Length Body Review of the Civil Aviation Authority.

Rob Bishton, Chief Executive of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: “Our previous 2021 strategy concentrated on enabling us to support the recovery of the industry in the wake of the COVID-19. With UK passenger numbers now recovered to close to their 2019 peak, it is vital that we continue to evolve our regulatory approach in line with the sector’s ever-changing demands.

“These new strategic priorities allow us to help support the industry’s move from the post-pandemic period to a place of greater assurance. This will allow us to enable the more sustainable, innovative, and accessible future of aviation to thrive while retaining our core focus of protecting people, enabling aerospace.”