The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has rated South Africa’s safety oversight system at 91.11% thereby placing it at number one in Africa and number 18 in the world.
Addressing a media briefing on the state of the aviation sector on Tuesday, Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga said the ICAO also did not raise any significant safety and security concerns in both the safety and security audits, which happened within eight months of each other.
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In the past two to three years, South Africa has participated in four key international safety and security audits and assessments conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and the United States safety and security regulators namely, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as well as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
“I am elated to announce that South Africa performed very well in all these audits and assessments. The US-Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recognised South Africa’s safety oversight system as meeting ICAO’s safety standards and recommended practices and therefore confirmed that South Africa retains its Category 1 status with the standards of the United States International Oversight Safety Audit (IOSA) Programme.
“The Transport Security Administration granted South Africa’s cargo security system permanent recognition following an assessment of the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA). South Africa still holds the European Union (EU) recognition for the States cargo security system,” Chikunga told the media.
She said these outcomes do not only validate the quality of South Africa’s global aviation footprint, but it also confirms that South Africa’s systems are competing favourably with the best in the world of aviation.
“South Africa is proud of the continued 0% fatal accident rate held in the commercial airlines sector for nearly four decades. Our target is to maintain this record for decades to come,” the Minister said.
