Air Transport

Appalling air safety standards across Africa could be improved significantly if all African states made the International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) a condition for issuing air operator's certificates.

So says John Morrison, chief executive of the Airline Association of Southern Africa (AASA), who suggests operators that do not successfully undertake the audit and its two-year review should lose their operating permits.

Morrison says IOSA - by 2008 a condition of IATA membership - is a major breakthrough in airline safety, but is not mandatory for the large number of non-IATA airlines mainly responsible for Africa's bad accident rating. At 9.2 hull losses per million departures, Africa's losses in 2005 were 12 times worse than the world average of 0.76.

Many African airlines operate old and often former Eastern bloc aircraft that are badly maintained. Poor training, suspect operating procedures and inadequate finances exacerbate the situation.

But Morrison is confident IOSA and the International Civil Aviation Organisation's Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOP) for civil aviation authorities will eventually lift Africa's safety performance to world standards. A lack of financial and human resources and inexperienced technical personnel characterise safety oversight in many African countries. CAAs now have two years to undertake USOP. Those who fail face being blacklisted.

IATA says 25 of its 29 member airlines in sub-Saharan Africa are in the IOSA process. To date, six sub-Saharan IATA member airlines have been audited, eight have signed an audit agreement, and 11 are selecting or signing an official independent auditor. Of these, Comair, Kenya Airways and South African Airways have completed audits and are on the IOSA register.

Globally, 89% of IATA's 261 members have been audited, contracted or are preparing for one. Of these, 116 are on the register and 66 non-member airlines, including four from Africa, are in the process.

"Governments must invest in infrastructure, which is sorely lacking in many parts of the continent," says IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani. "Reputable airlines are having their images tarnished by fly-by-night operators that have made Africa's safety record the worst in the world. A responsible industry cannot tolerate even a few governments that don't take safety seriously."

IATA is investing $3 million in its Partnership for Safety programme to help carriers prepare for IOSA while encouraging governments to incorporate it into their safety oversight programmes.