Ahead of regional and international operations, the United Nigeria Airline (UNA) has recorded a major feat in international safety certification, having scaled the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) hurdle.
IOSA, the globally accepted evaluation system that is designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline, is a safety prestige for world airlines, and a pre-requirement for the membership of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
At the presentation of the IOSA certificate in Lagos, recently, the Chief Operating Officer of UNA, Osita Okonkwo, said getting the IOSA certificate in less than two years of operations had quickened their steps towards long-term objectives of going regional and international.
But the feat didn’t come easily. Okonkwo said: “It was a serious process that opened up our eyes to many things. We are happy, and we definitely want you to watch this space as we made further announcements in weeks and months to come.
“It is a privilege and also a responsibility all put together, and we manage to go through that successfully. We thank our team, especially those that worked so many hours, days, and months to get us to where we are today. We also thank IATA, and the audit team that came from different parts of the world,” he said.
Regional manager of IATA in West and Central Africa, Dr. Samson Fatokun, added that the certification had brought UNA onboard the list of IOSA recognised airlines in the African region.
Fatokun noted that only six Nigerian airlines are on the IOSA registry, thereby, making Nigeria the only country in Africa with the highest number of IOSA certified airlines.
