How can aviation regulators retain effectiveness in a performance-based environment?

Abstract: Regulation of aviation has entered into a deliberate and noticeably movement away from purely compliance-based regulation towards performance-based regulation, by which the providers and operators are required to reach a certain level of performance, while being granted a larger degree of freedom to choose the methods to achieve their target. Hence the focus of the entire aviation community is shifting to the performance of organizations and their safety management systems, and a change of the regulation, the safety oversight and thereby the role of the regulators becomes necessary. This thesis is focused on the consequences of the regulatory changes to safety and questions if the regulators are capable of achieving the desired safety improvement; the thesis reports on a qualitative study of the common experiences of the European aviation community on how to retain effective regulation in a performance-based environment. It points to areas of concern as well as to positive implications of the on-going development towards a performance-based environment. The thesis demonstrates a positive attitude towards the change in safety regime, but concludes that a lack of common understanding of the concepts related to performance-based regulation is a shared experience between all actors in the European aviation community and that more guidelines are needed. The research likewise points to an imbalance in resources and competencies between regulators and regulated entities as well as across different states in the region.