The IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) Program is an internationally recognized and accepted evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline.

The IOSA audit creates a standard that is comparable on a world-wide basis, enabling and maximizing the joint use of audit reports. This has saved the industry over 6400 redundant audits and continues to lead to extensive cost-savings for IOSA participating airlines. All IATA members are IOSA registered and must remain registered to maintain IATA membership.

Since its inception in 2003, IOSA has been an overwhelming success. Safety has improved significantly, industry auditing costs have been reduced, aviation insurers consider IOSA when establishing premium levels, and the lessons learned have informed risk management across a multitude of areas.

The all-accident rate for airlines on the IOSA registry since 2005 is 1.40 per million sectors compared with 3.49 per million sectors for non-IOSA airlines. Similarly, the fatality rate is 0.11 compared with 0.62. And with some 407 airlines on the IOSA registry from more than 130 countries—exceeding IATA members by more than 100—the value of IOSA to the broader industry is clear.

“The story so far is very positive,” agrees Serkan Simitcioglu, Head of IOSA. “The program has become a center of excellence for safety auditing. But that is also the challenge we have going forward. How do we keep up this incredible momentum?”

The original aim of IOSA was simply to reduce an audit frenzy, with regulators requiring airlines to audit each other before they could start codesharing. As a single internationally accepted audit process for airlines, IOSA replaced a multiplicity of audit practices that lacked common standards and consistency. 

IOSA Standards Manual Ed. 2023 

IOSA Audit Handbook