Seven African airlines joined the International Air Transport Association’s (Iata’s) Operational Safety Audit (Iosa) registry last year.
The audits assessed the operational management and control systems of an airline and served as a benchmark for global safety management.
Speaking to Engineering News Online on the sidelines of the African Union Meeting of Transport Ministers, Iata Africa VP Raphael Kuuchi noted that, over the past two years, 20 airlines were assisted in capacity building and training to prepare for the audits.
“We have another eight airlines that are scheduled [to become Iosa members] this year. The audits have been so positive,” he added.
Kuuchi cited RwandAir and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Equajet airline as two of the airlines that passed the Iata audit and were added to the Iosa registry in 2014.
He noted that two other countries have recently undergone Iosa audits and were awaiting the outcome. “We have also scheduled audits for three [airlines] in the first quarter of this year,” he added.
As of October 2014, 154 (38%) of the 402 airlines on the Iosa registry were non-Iata member airlines. There were 60 airlines from Africa on the registry. Earlier, Kuuchi reported that airlines on the Iosa registry were performing almost seven times better than non-Iosa operators in Africa in terms of safety.
The total accident rate for Iosa carriers in 2013 was 2.5 times lower than the rate for non-Iosa operators.
Meanwhile, Kuuchi said that the outlook for African aviation over the next five years was “very positive” as traffic was growing and the liberalisation of the airspace would see many countries on the continent opening up their markets.
“As the middle-class in Africa is growing, more opportunities for travelling are created. There is also an increase in foreign direct investment in Africa, which brings in a lot of overseas businesspeople who frequently travel,” he pointed out.
One of the elements that were also fueling the positive outlook was the significant drop in oil prices, which decreases the costs of operations. “When the price goes up again, demand will be affected, but overall we still expect a positive growth trend,” he added.