Govt to make IATA safety audit mandatory for local airlines

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 09/08/2007 3:12 PM  |  Business

Andi Haswidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is considering making the operational safety audit of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) mandatory for Indonesian airlines, according to a senior official at the Transportation Ministry.

""We therefore need to discuss it further with the Indonesian Air Carrier Association (INACA) before making any decision,"" the ministry's director for air transport certification, Yurlis Hasibuan, told a press conference Friday. He spoke at the close of a five-day workshop on flight safety standards held in cooperation with IATA.

More than 40 participants from 16 airlines and the directorate general's office took part in the workshop.

Workshop participants -- none of whom belong to the IATA -- were introduced to the IATA operational safety audit (IOSA), the first global standard for benchmarking the safety management practices of airlines.

Currently, Indonesia's aviation regulator follows the safety audit standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in auditing the operational safety of the country's airlines.

John Belson, workshop trainer, explained that the IOSA standards were developed in cooperation with international regulatory bodies including the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Transport Canada and Europe's Joint Aviation Authority.

He said that 900 individual criteria had been adopted, resulting in a high standard of safety.

Completing the IOSA became a condition for IATA membership in 2006, but the audit is also available to non-IATA members. Among Indonesian airlines, only Garuda Airlines belongs to the IATA. Membership is pending for Mandala Air and Adam Air.

""One of the benefits of joining IATA is that an airline can carry out a code sharing with foreign airlines without having to be audited again as it would already meet the required standard,"" Yurlis said.

However, he said that not all airlines would want to be audited using the IOSA system due to costs.

According to Belson, an IOSA trainer for two and a half years, the audit process may involve one week of work for five to six auditors and a cost between US$20,000 and $30,000. However, if Indonesian airlines should take interest, there are ways to cut costs, such as a joint audit process involving multiple airlines.

Indonesian airline safety has been in the spotlight of the international aviation community due to a cluster of recent accidents. In July, the European Commission banned all Indonesian airlines, including national flag carrier Garuda, from entering the 27-nation bloc.

Efforts to have the ban lifted have begun. Upon his return from Brussels, Belgium, last week, head of special lobby team, Chappy Hakim, said that members of the concerned EC committee would put the matter to vote.

He said that the committee would further consider clarifications received from the lobbying team regarding actual airline safety conditions in Indonesia. The voting was likely to take place in mid-September, during an ICAO meeting in Montreal.

Also at that meeting, Indonesia plans to seek support among ICAO member countries for a bid to join the organization's council.

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