Kingston, Jamaica, March 13, 2008: On Wednesday March 12, 2008 Air Jamaica was formally presented with the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) Registration Certificate to symbolize the airline being added to the IOSA registry in November 2007. This certification has been awarded for conforming 100 % with the mandatory requirements of the programme which covered 942 disciplines.
The Chairman Shirley Williams noted that Air Jamaica has had an unblemished safety record and is pleased to be accepting this certification considering that with a registry at present of approximately 186 airlines, Air Jamaica is among that number.
IATA (International Air Transportation Association) and its associated companies arrived at a set of organizational and operational requirements focusing on airlines safety operations. IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) is the name of this programme. Airlines who are IATA members were required to be certified by the end of 2007. In addition, some countries now require airlines to be IOSA certified to enter their airspace.
The process began for Air Jamaica in 2005 and took a year of preparation. The benefits to Air Jamaica as a certified IOSA member are numerous which includes a reduction of costs and audit resource requirements for airlines and regulators and continuous updating of standards to reflect regulatory revisions and the evolution of best practices within industry , just to name a few.
The IOSA Audit is recognized by the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) and the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA).