Kenya Airways and U.S.-based GHS Aviation audit safety group has signed a deal to enhance Africa’s aviation safety, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

GHS will set up an International Air Transport Association (IATA) safety operation audit facility at Kenya Airways to serve the African continent.

“With the aviation safety audit office in Kenya, Africa’s aviation industry will be able for the first time to access world class safety standards within the continent,” GHS president Captain George Snyder told journalists on Tuesday.

The agreement came a few months after the African ministerial conference on aviation safety held in Abuja this year acknowledged the slow pace of the continent’s operational safety enhancements due to systemic deficiencies and lack of technically qualified personnel.

GHS is one of few accredited organisations allowed to carry out IATA Operational Safety Audits (IOSA).

Snyder said the deal will ensure the continual safety, security and reliability of Africa’s air transportation industry as measured by global standards.

Regional safety statistics of 2011 showed air transportation in Africa is almost nine times more dangerous as compared to the global industry’s average level.

“However, in the same year data indicates that African air carriers who have chosen to attain IOSA registration have safety records that are approximately equivalent to the average safety performance record by IOSA registered operators outside of Africa,” Snyder said.

The Kenyan airline was the first sub-Saharan operator to be certified under the IOSA programme in 2005.

 

 

Source: http://www.bernama.com.my