Oman Air Renews Its IOSA Certification
Date: 5 April 2009
The existing image of Oman Air, the national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman that announced recently its expansion plans, has received a boost with the successful completion of renewing its IOSA registration.
The renewal is an outcome of the IOSA audit the Airline underwent, whereby the Carrier remains among the airlines which reached this internationally recognized standard, after a thorough evaluation in all areas of organization and management system, flight operation, operational control, flight dispatch, aircraft engineering and maintenance, cabin operations, aircraft ground handling, cargo operation and operational security.
Talal Al Riyami, Head of Quality & Safety, Oman Air, said that the objective of the IATA developed IOSA programme is to reach an internationally recognized and comparable standard in operation and safety management. "The standards incorporate many requirements from ICAO, FAA, and EASA, as well as best practices from airline audit programmes in existence already. The programme aims to standardise and promote air safety practices and is recognised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and other Civil Aviation Authorities around the world." Talal said.
The audit was carried out over a period of five days by an internationally recognized team of six auditors from Wake QA - an IATA-accredited IOSA audit organisation in the UK and an observer from IATA. Oman Air initially achieved the distinction of the IOSA certification in January 2005 and was the third among Arab Airline and 24th among IATA members to achieve this recognition. This itself is a matter of pride for Oman Air's management and staff, and is particularly creditable considering the fact that IATA represents some 230 airlines comprising 93% of the international scheduled air traffic. IATA accredited Audit Organizations perform the audits with specially trained auditors and according to internationally recognized procedures.
All new members of the IATA association are required to pass IOSA before they join the association. Moreover, all existing members must obtain the IOSA registration or they would loose their IATA membership.
Corporate Communications and Media Department (CC&M) of Oman Air added that this award is a testament to the commitment of every Oman Air employee towards upholding and maintaining excellent safety and quality standards. "This significant milestone was a result of Oman Air’s strong and continuous commitment to the highest levels of international safety and quality standards set by IATA in all fields of aviation." CC&M stated.