Aviation is a global business that brings together professionals from all around the globe. Cultural differences in this industry create both: opportunities and challenges. On one hand, diverse crew teams have more efficient critical thinking skills, stronger defense against groupthink, and produce better innovation and problem-solving solutions. On the other hand, if not managed, issues arising from limited language proficiency, different hierarchical norms, or cultural background could lead to misunderstandings. And that in aviation might come for a high price. Abdelmagid Bouzougarh, CEO of Aerviva, Dubai-based international aviation recruitment consultancy, shares his insights on how to benefit from cultural diversity and avoid communication barriers.

Language barriers and interpretation differences

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) evaluated 28,000 incidents and accident reports. The results showed that in over 70% of the occurrences, one of the leading factors was communication challenges.

Sometimes miscommunication can show evidence of confusion with key pieces of information that eventually can turn out into a conflict. Limited language proficiency can be evidenced by the non-immediate compliance of instructions, most likely as a result of misunderstanding, and by the lack of immediate confirmation of instructions. Especially in cases between pilots and Air Traffic Control (ATC).

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