Lisa Anderson Spencer, Chief of the Commercial Air Travel Unit, New York

To comply with our UNDSS mandate, our first goal was to develop a baseline methodology to determine relative safety amongst all commercial airlines operating globally, which could be used for official UN staff travel. The end goal is to ensure that air operators ticketed by the UN System meet our safety criteria and demonstrate their attention to safe operations. We check a variety of criteria against evidence-based sources to get the best picture of how the airline operates. If an airline is not on our list, it does not mean it is unsafe, it only means that it did not meet our minimum criteria.

Air operations ensure that the UN System can service its mandates in under-developed Members States by increasing capacity through managed air transport. I am aware of the number of UN personnel depending on the Commercial Air Travel department and I am proud to be the Head in one of the UN's most critical units. The most important thing to know is that all UN personnel are beneficiaries of our work. If you are on a flight booked/ticketed by a UN organization, then be confident that that air operator has been assessed for safety by our office.