IATA, EASA reach agreement on information sharing

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced an agreement on sharing of safety information and joint analysis of safety trends. These analyses primarily will be based on the information derived from the Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) program, and the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA).

EASA and IATA expect that this collaboration will provide an excellent basis for better identifying important safety issues and has the potential for further improvements to the auditing process including the Third Country Operators (TCO) assessments and authorization requirements of the European Union.

”Safety is aviation’s highest priority and IOSA is the global benchmark for airline operational safety management. Working together through this information and trend-sharing partnership will contribute to making aviation even safer, while offering the potential to optimize the audit processes,” said Tony Tyler, IATA Director General and CEO.

Partick Ky, EASA Executive Director, said: “Partnering with IATA on data sharing is a major stepping stone towards our common goal to promote the highest possible level of safety in aviation. This close and pragmatic relationship with industry will in particular facilitate the demonstration of compliance to the new rules affecting non-European Union airlines”.

IOSA is a requirement of membership in IATA; additionally some 150 airlines that are not members of IATA participate in IOSA. SAFA ramp inspections are random safety inspections on a given aircraft and its crew, focusing on the flight preparation and the technical condition of the aircraft. Approximately 11,000 inspections are recorded every year.