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Safety is a top priority for African Aviation

News | 27th Nov 2019

To allow aviation to drive economic and social development on the African continent, enrich people’s lives and enable the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG’s), IATA has called on African governments and industry to focus on four key priorities. During a keynote speech at the 51st Annual General Assembly of the African Airline Association in November 2019, Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and CEO at IATA expressed that the top priority should always be safety. 

“We must never forget that global standards have helped to make aviation the safest form of long-distance transport and there is a good example of that in the safety performance of African airlines,” he says. In order to raise the safety bar even higher, he highlighted three top key priorities to improve aviation safety in Africa. 

  • More states need to incorporate the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) into their safety oversight systems. Mozambique, Rwanda, Togo and Zimbabwe have already done so. 
  • Smaller operators should consider becoming IATA Standard Safety Assessment (ISSA) certified. ISSA provides a valuable operational benchmark for carriers not eligible for IOSA. 
  • African states need to implement ICAO standards and recommend practices in their regulations. Currently, only 26 states meet or exceed the threshold of 60% implementation. 

Other priorities discussed in Alexandre de Juniac’s keynote session included, cost-competitiveness, opening the continent to travel and trade and gender diversity. To read his full speech, please visit the IATA website. 

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