CAAS ‘actively monitoring’ fuel emergencies on flights into S’pore amid Mid-East conflict

SINGAPORE – The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) is actively monitoring the number of fuel-related emergencies declared by airlines, including foreign carriers, on flights arriving in Singapore.

The heightened vigilance stems from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which has presented new safety risks to the aviation sector, Mr Han Kok Juan, the authority’s director-general, said at the Aviation Safety Forum on May 20.

Beyond the inherent danger of flying through conflict areas, some flight routes have also been lengthened to avoid them.

Airlines must ensure their aircraft have enough fuel to sustain these longer journeys and potential contingencies, he noted, warning that carriers facing financial pressures from elevated fuel prices must continue to put safety first and sustain their expenditure on safety.

“They (safety standards) should be non-negotiable,” he said, adding that CAAS will continue keeping a close watch on the safety performance of every airline operating in and out of Changi Airport.

Mr Han’s remarks come against a backdrop of higher safety risks in the Asia-Pacific region, including an accident rate of 1.62 per million departures in 2024, compared with 0.78 in 2023. The number of deaths also increased, with 186 deaths in 2024, up from 72 in 2023.

Mr Edwin Jesudason, a former chief pilot at Scoot with 45 years of flying experience, said that when less fuel is carried on a plane, the less safe it becomes to fly.

Lower fuel reserves could become an issue if planes are forced into holding patterns before they land, such as when there is congestion at airport runways or bad weather, added the 69-year-old.

Another former pilot, Mr Graham McDonald, 76, noted that some airlines allow pilots to decide how much reserve fuel to take on based on their experience and expected weather conditions.

When he was flying, he preferred to carry extra fuel in case of unexpected situations. Reducing reserve fuel based solely on experience can be risky, said the former Qantas captain who has 46 years of experience under his belt.

In response to queries, CAAS said it has dealt with two fuel-related emergencies in 2026 so far. Both involved aircraft landing in Singapore that had experienced inclement weather around Changi Airport. There were five and eight such emergencies in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

The authority added that, in accordance with international standards, the civil aviation authorities require their respective carriers to implement rules ensuring extra fuel is carried beyond what is required.

Meanwhile, turbulence remained the leading cause of accidents in the region from 2022 to 2024, accounting for almost 40 per cent of such occurrences. This trend is expected to persist as climate change leads to more adverse weather conditions, Mr Han added.

While Singapore has maintained a robust safety regime and has not experienced a major aviation accident, Mr Han pointed out that the number of safety incidents has risen, particularly those involving turbulence and runway incursions.

In 2024, the Transport Safety Investigation Bureau investigated two turbulence accidents involving fatal or serious injuries.

This included the severe turbulence encountered by Singapore Airlines Flight SQ321, which left one passenger dead and 79 others injured. The final report on the incident was published on May 19.

The number of turbulence accidents investigated in 2025 rose to three.

Similarly, there was an uptick in runway incursions at Changi Airport – from two in 2024 to three in 2025. All the incursions involved foreign carriers, and there was no risk of collision or contact with any other vehicle. A runway incursion occurs when an unauthorised aircraft, vehicle or person is on or near a runway in use.

In four of those five cases, there was only one aircraft on the runway, but they were still considered incursions as another aircraft was within the safety buffer zone.

The last incident did not involve any aircraft on the runway. Instead, the plane had mistakenly entered the safety buffer zone without approval. To that end, Mr Han said CAAS is working with the aviation industry to anticipate and mitigate safety risks.

An independent safety review of Changi Airport’s runway operations, commissioned by CAAS in 2025 and conducted by an international consortium, found that existing measures and procedures are effective and compliant with international standards.

Moving forward, the authority will involve local stakeholders, including Changi Airport Group, Singapore Airlines and Scoot, to implement recommendations made by the consortium.

It will also expand its outreach to the nearly 100 foreign airlines operating at the airport.

CAAS is also collaborating with its counterparts in Japan and South Korea to promote the use of turbulence prediction and detection systems.

Despite the rise in safety challenges, the local aviation sector’s safety culture remains strong.

A survey conducted by CAAS, polling 5,000 people across 400 companies in the sector, found that 77 per cent of respondents agreed that the sector in Singapore has a positive safety culture – up 4 percentage points from 2023 when the survey was first carried out.

Improvements were also reflected in different job roles, ranging from operational personnel to senior management, as well as across different dimensions such as awareness and communication.