ALTA and IATA partner to improve safety in Latin America and the Caribbean

Sydney. June 5, 2018 - The Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) signed today a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly work on improving and advancing safety operational issues in the air transport industry across Latin American and the Caribbean.

Within this framework, ALTA will help to promote the IATA Standard Safety Assessment (ISSA) across the Latin American region and will continue to support IATA's efforts to enhance governments' acceptance of the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) within their operational approval processes.

"Aviation's superb safety performance is built upon partnerships among stakeholders. This MOU highlights the successful cooperation between IATA and ALTA to further strengthen aviation safety in Latin America," said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA's Director General and CEO.

ALTA's Executive Director, Luis Felipe de Oliveira, expressed: "This agreement represents an important step forward to improve safety standards in our region. Safety is ALTA's number one priority and we have strengthened our engagement with governments, civil aviation authorities and airlines to further progress safety. Under this agreement, we will work hand in hand with IATA to enhance adoption of IATA Standard Safety Assessment (ISSA)".

ALTA and IATA will collaboratively operate the ISSA Program in the region. This collaboration will enable sharing best practices and raising awareness on the importance of adopting safety standards such as ISSA by operators of smaller aircraft (maximum take-off weight below 5,700 kg) that are not eligible for the IOSA program.

De Oliveira added: "ALTA and IATA have a long history of joint work through committees, projects and activities to help the aviation industry reach its full potential in the region.
This agreement will improve our collaborative efforts towards an even safer aviation industry in Latin America and the Caribbean for me mutual benefit of the industry and the people served by air transport".