Four new African airlines get Iata safety accreditation

JOY ORLEK FOUR NEW African airlines have achieved the International Air Transport Association’s (Iata) safety rating. Air Mauritius, Ethiopian Airlines, South Africa’s Nationwide Airlines and Precision Air have become the latest African carriers to be granted Iata Operational Safety Audit registration (IOSA). This brings the number of IOSA operators on the African continent to 9 and 147 worldwide. They join South African Airways, Kenya Airways, Comair, Royal Air Maroc and Egyptair. IOSA is the global benchmark for airline safety management, designed to assess airline operational management and control systems based on internationally recognised standards. Any airline wishing to join Iata must be IOSA registered. “By the end of this year, all Iata members must successfully undergo the IOSA audit in order to retain Iata membership and carriers must achieve registration by the end of 2008,” Iata director general and CEO Giovanni Bisignani told FTW. Currently 16 African Iata member airlines (13 sub- Saharan and three North African) have scheduled audits in advance of the deadline with two remaining. Iata's recently-released 2006 Safety Report shows that IOSA, along with much-needed infrastructure improvements and technology upgrades, is improving safety levels in Africa. “Safety is our industry’s number one priority and last year was our safest year ever,” said Bisignani. “Africa has made good progress on safety, but the accident rate is still almost seven times the global average. We need all African airlines to get on board with IOSA. And we are encouraging governments to incorporate IOSA into their safety oversight programmes. So far, Madagascar and Egypt have moved forward on this and Nigeria and Tunisia are planning to do the same.”