Strategy and policy are key to providing the aviation industry with the stability and consistency required to reach and maintain high safety standards, according to Proflight Zambia.

Rigorous application and enforcement of international safety standards are vital to ensuring continued confidence in the industry locally and overseas, explained the airline’s Commercial Director Keira Irwin, speaking at the African Aviation Safety Works symposium on African aviation safety in the Netherlands recently.

Ms Irwin was speaking alongside global aviation industry stalwarts such as former Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer Titus Naikuni at the high-level conference, where she gave an insight into Proflight’s experiences of running an airline under challenging conditions
Proflight is the fastest growing local airline in the Southern African region and the only scheduled airline in Zambia.

The airline has this month completed the second of three workshops under the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) initiative as part of its work towards achieving the top safety accreditation standard in the global aviation industry.

Attaining IOSA accreditation will elevate Proflight’s safety credibility so that the airline can more easily agree code-share agreements with international airlines, and possibly make a case for exemption from the EU ban list on Zambian registered aircraft.

“Being on the European Union safety blacklist completely changes the costumer’s perception,” acknowledged Tom Kok, Director of the AviAssist foundation, which organised the conference and supports African airports and airlines in the field of safety.