The International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA). Under the MoU, the two parties will cooperate to strengthen aviation safety in South Africa.
IATA is the representative body for the global airline industry. SACAA is the agency responsible for civil aviation safety and regulation in South Africa.
With the MoU, the SACAA has explicitly recognised the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) as being an acceptable way of complying with the regulator’s safety regulations. Set up some 20 years ago, the IOSA has become recognised as a global standard for airline operational safety auditing. Undergoing IOSA is an IATA membership requirement
Safety data has shown that, in aggregate, airlines on the IOSA registry are significantly safer than airlines that are not on the IOSA registry. IOSA registry airlines in 2021 had an all-accident rate of 0.45, which was more than six times less than the figure of 2.86 recorded by non-IOSA airlines.
“Safety is the industry’s top priority and IOSA continues to demonstrate the benefits of global standards underpinning safety operations,” highlighted IATA Regional VP for Africa Kamil Alawadhi. “In 2021, African airlines on the IOSA registry had zero accidents. We congratulate the [SACAA] for their continuous leadership in advancing a safe and efficient air transport industry in the region and for helping promote a single set of global safety standards.”