The IOSA Task Force was established in April 2011. The Task Force agreed to focus on establishing a consultancy arm as well as any partnerships to assist airlines to prepare for IOSA audits to help reduce the cost of audits and develop expertise within the Continent. It is also hoped that by reducing the cost of audits, more airlines on the Continent that are not members of IATA or AFRAA, will be able to seek IOSA accreditation.
Currently the Secretariat is working on the logistical requirements of setting up an IOSA Consultancy Unit. The Association is also closely working with some airlines seeking IOSA accreditation by providing training services and putting them in contact with people who cost effectively assisting the airlines.
AFRAA has held discussions with two IOSA approved organisations with the view to collaborating and partnering to, among other things, capacity building, establish a safety culture in African airlines and sensitise more airlines to appreciate the importance of attaining IOSA Certification.
The following airlines were selected as members of the Task Force:
a. Air Botswana
b. Air Namibia
c. Air Zimbabwe
d. South African Airways Technical
e. Tunisair
The AFRAA Secretariat had a meeting with Members of the AFRASCO Executive Committee in Nairobi on 23 June, 2011. The objective of the meeting was to seek areas of cooperation particularly on enhancing safety on the continent and availing some expertise that can be used as consultants when airlines are preparing for IOSA audits.
The Secretariat also received communication from one of the IATA approved IOSA auditing organizations, GHS Aviation Group. They intend to meet the Secretariat to explore areas of cooperation in meeting the goal of either setting up an African IOSA auditing company or assisting with cost effective IOSA audits.
The Secretariat also received communication from representatives of Aviation Compliance Solutions (ACS) of Australia, another IATA approved IOSA auditing organization. The representative advised that ACS is considering establishing representation either in Nairobi or Johannesburg for purposes of training auditors and conducting IOSA audits. ACS has 11 African airline clients. The company has agreed to train some African IOSA auditors and the process is on-going.
The IATA Director General stated that it would be ill advised to set up an African IOSA auditing company because of the poor safety image of the continent except if the company is a subsidiary of the world class airlines such as AT, MS, ET, KQ, SA or TU.
Member of the Task Force suggested that it would be much appreciated if a consulting unit or arm was formed to help airlines preparing for IOSA audits use African experts who would be much more cost effective than using experts from outside the continent. For this reason, the Secretariat has collected a list of auditors who can be availed for this and AFRAA is in the process of establishing modalities of setting up such a consulting unit.
