Kigali, 14 August 2018: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority (RCAA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to partner for the improvement of aviation safety, as part of a wider African drive to get all airlines on the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) register.

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.

The Director General RCAA, Col. Silas Udahemuka, underscored that "Rwanda CAA is committed to improving African aviation safety. Our partnership with IATA will help us to do that by taking greater advantage of IOSA in our safety oversight program”.

Under the 2015 Abuja Declaration, African Governments committed to recognize IOSA as a safety standard and get all of the continents’ airlines IOSA-registered by 2020.

IATA regional Vice President for Africa and Middle East, Mr Muhammad Albakri said that when this MOU is implemented, Rwanda will be the second African State after Zimbabwe to fulfill this commitment. “We hope that our work together will be an inspiration to other African governments to take similar action in fulfilling their Abuja Declaration commitments,”Mr Muhammad Albakri said.

“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,” he added.

About IOSA

IOSA was established in 2003 as an airline-safety benchmark, which is now held by 440 airlines including 34 African airlines. IOSA certification is required to become an IATA Member Airline.

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.

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.

In 2017, the accident rate among IOSA-registered airlines was four times better than non-IOSA airlines.