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Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has widened its monitoring of foreign airlines to include International Air Transport Association (IATA) safety audit data.
The nation’s aviation safety watchdog has signed a memorandum of understanding with the airlines’ industry body to gain access to IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) reports.
“CASA will use the IOSA information to complement the existing oversight and surveillance of foreign airlines,” CASA acting chief executive and director of aviation safety Graeme Crawford said in the July CASA Briefing note.
“It will also be used as part of the assessment process for new foreign carriers seeking authorisation to operate to Australia.”
Crawford said Australia was the first country in Asia Pacific to use IOSA as part of the safety oversight of airlines.
The IOSA program assesses the operational management and control systems of an airline. Airlines must hold IOSA certification to be a member of IATA. There are also airlines that have gone through the IOSA program but are not members of IATA.
While CASA will initially only access foreign carrier IOSA reports, Crawford said the aim was to eventually include locally-based airlines.
“In the future we expect to have access to IOSA information in relation to Australian carriers, which will be used to support our existing audit and surveillance work,” Crawford said.
“CASA worked closely with IATA to understand their audit processes, quality assurance arrangements and management of approved auditors.
“The use of the information will benefit airlines as it will make CASA’s surveillance and audits even more efficient and effective.”
CASA noted US Federal Aviation Administration, the European Aviation Safety Agency and China already had agreements to share IOSA information.
