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The 2025 Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Safety Week held at the Marriott Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, on 12th November, featured a thought-provoking keynote paper delivered by Hon. Yakubu Dati, who called for the integration of emotional intelligence, communication, and mediation strategies in managing conflicts within the aviation sector to ensure safer skies.

Speaking on the theme, “Navigating Conflict for a Safer Aviation,” Dati underscored the inevitability of human conflict in an industry driven by precision, coordination, and cooperation.

He emphasised that safety in aviation is not merely dependent on technology and procedures, but on how effectively conflicts are managed among aviation professionals and stakeholders.

“Conflict is inevitable where human interaction exists,” Dati said. “What truly matters is not the presence of conflict, but how we manage and navigate it to enhance safety, efficiency, and trust within the aviation ecosystem.”

He explained that conflicts in aviation could occur across multiple fronts – between pilots and air traffic controllers, crew members and management, unions and regulators, or even passengers and cabin crew.

Citing Akbarli (2023), he noted that poor conflict management could disrupt flight operations, compromise safety, and undermine public confidence in air transport.

Dati stressed that unmanaged conflicts often arise from communication breakdowns, leadership gaps, stress, and cultural differences, which could erode teamwork and compromise judgement. However, when conflict is effectively navigated, it can expose systemic weaknesses, inspire dialogue, and promote adaptive learning – all essential to a robust safety culture.

He lamented that the aviation industry, though critical to global connectivity and economic growth, operates in an environment fraught with industrial disputes, regulatory disagreements, and security threats, all of which demand strong conflict management frameworks.

“Globally, poor conflict management has led to airspace disputes, security breaches, and coordination failures. These experiences remind us that aviation safety must include mechanisms for collaborative conflict resolution,” he said.

The keynote paper highlighted Nigeria’s peculiar challenges – including inter-agency rivalry, industrial strikes, and infrastructural deficits – as factors that underscore the need for improved conflict navigation in aviation.

Referring to a disturbing rise in unruly passenger incidents, Dati cited International Air Transport Association (IATA) statistics indicating that disruptive events now occur once in every 568 flights globally.

He noted that emotional intelligence (EI) and de-escalation training could prevent such occurrences from spiralling into safety threats.

The Ibom Air–female passenger incident of August 2025, he said, revealed the urgent need for emotional regulation and de-escalation in Nigeria’s aviation safety culture.

The passenger’s refusal to switch off her phone led to physical assault on cabin crew, her eventual arrest, and a lifetime flight ban.

“While enforcement was necessary, earlier emotional intelligence-driven engagement might have prevented escalation,” Dati observed. “This case should drive our efforts to train aviation personnel in conflict management and empathy-led communication.”

Similarly, he referenced the KWAM 1 (King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal) incident at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, in August 2025, when the musician caused a disruption by defying safety rules, leading to a six-month flight ban.

According to Dati, both cases reveal the cost of unmanaged conflict – including reputational damage, operational disruption, and legal consequences.

Defining emotional intelligence as the ability to perceive, understand, and regulate emotions, Dati described it as “integral to aviation safety.” He identified four competencies critical to aviation practitioners – self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and relationship management.

He proposed an EI-Led Conflict Navigation (ELCN) model – a six-step process involving early detection, risk assessment, calm engagement, respectful boundary-setting, resolution, and debriefing. This framework, he said, would help aviation professionals manage tension without compromising safety or dignity.

“Emotional intelligence is not a soft skill; it is a survival skill in aviation,” Dati asserted. “High EI correlates with better communication, fewer procedural errors, and safer flight operations.”

Dati called for the institutionalisation of conflict management strategies within regulatory and operational frameworks, citing global standards such as ICAO Doc 10117, FAA Crew Resource Management training, and IATA behavioural risk management guidelines.

He also identified classical conflict resolution techniques – including collaboration, compromise, accommodation, avoidance, and assertive enforcement – as tools adaptable to aviation contexts.

“Whether in crew coordination, passenger relations, or regulatory negotiations, situational judgement guided by emotional intelligence must inform when to collaborate, when to compromise, and when to assert authority,” he said.

To ensure safer skies, Dati advocated open communication, continuous training, leadership by example, and institutionalised safety culture. He urged aviation organisations to promote transparency and encourage staff to raise safety concerns without fear of reprisal.

“Safety leadership requires humility, empathy, and fairness,” he remarked. “Leaders must model calmness in conflict situations and turn disagreements into opportunities for innovation.”

Dati concluded his keynote by urging regulators, training institutions, and airlines to reimagine conflict as a driver of transformation rather than disruption.

He recommended integrating conflict management into safety oversight, embedding human relations studies in aviation curricula, and prioritising investment in communication and human factors training.

“To navigate conflict for safer aviation is to recognise that safety begins in the human heart before it manifests in the airport, cockpit, or control tower,” he said. “If we can transform conflict into collaboration and disagreement into dialogue, the sky will not only be a space for flight but also a space for peace, professionalism, and shared purpose.”

The 2025 FAAN Safety Week thus reaffirmed the importance of human factors, emotional intelligence, and collaborative problem-solving in ensuring that the pursuit of aviation safety remains both technical and deeply human.