The Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has inked Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for the improvement of aviation safety.
Under the MoU, the parties will work together to establish a framework for using the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) to complement Rwanda’s safety oversight.
“Our partnership with IATA will help us to do that by taking greater advantage of IOSA in our safety oversight programme,” said Silas Udahemuka, director general, CAA of Rwanda.
The Abuja Declaration (2015) committed African governments to establish a framework for recognition of IOSA and for all African airlines to obtain IOSA registration by 2020. Rwanda, when this MoU is implemented will be the second African state (after Zimbabwe) to fulfill this commitment.
IOSA was established in 2003 to be the global benchmark for airline operational safety management. Today some 440 airlines are on the IOSA registry of which some 290 are IATA members. IATA members are required to maintain their IOSA registration.
Carriers on the IOSA registry consistently perform better on safety. In 2017, the all accident rate for airlines on the IOSA registry was nearly four times better than that of non-IOSA airlines (0.56 vs. 2.17 accidents per million flights) and it was nearly three times better over the 2012-16 period. This trend carries through to Africa where the 34 African airlines with an IOSA registration delivered safety performance more than three times better than African carriers not on the registry.
“Safety is the top priority for everyone involved in aviation. We look forward to working with the Government of Rwanda to turn the words of this MoU into actions that will further improve aviation safety. And we hope that our work together will be an inspiration to other African governments to take similar action in fulfilling their Abuja Declaration commitments,” said Muhammad Albakri, IATA’s regional vice president for Africa and Middle East.
