Aviation Safety Body Vets Regional Airlines
Aviation safety body vets regional airlines
NAIROBI, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) — A regional aviation safety body has embarked on a re-certification exercise for airlines in the region, officials said on Thursday.
A statement from the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat said the exercise conducted by the Civil Aviation Safety and Security Oversight Agency (CASSOA) will be carried out in five phase and will end on Aug. 26.
“As part of the exercise, representatives of all the region’s major carriers will meet with CASSOA and the agency’s appointed aviation experts in Arusha (Tanzania),” said CASSOA Executive Director Mtesigwa Maugo.
Maugo said the first phase involves pre-application, where operators meet with CASSOA for a briefing on the entire exercise. The next four stages are: formal application (by operators), evaluation of documents (by CASSOA), demonstration(physical assessment of operators’ systems and equipment) and approval for operation (by CASSOA).
Kenya Airways and East African Safari Express were in Arusha on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, and Tanzanian carriers Air Tanzania (Thursday) and Precision Air (Friday) were due to follow before Uganda’s Air Uganda and Eagle Air complete the phase early next week.
The re-certification exercise follows the end of a one-year grace period provided to carriers to make necessary adjustments to new regional aviation requirements, put in place after a the East African Community Partner States of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda harmonized air safety regulations.
Rwandan and Burundian carriers are yet to be included in this arrangement.
Airlines that do not meet the basic standards set by CASSOA will be not certified, Maugo said.
He added however, that the agency, working through its experts and local civil aviation authorities, will help such carriers achieve the minimum standards set by the regional body.
CASSOA was set up in April 2007 to help Partner States implement recommended standards and ensure a safe and secure aviation industry in the region.
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