The newest Bangladeshi airline- Air Astra has started the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) training before the commencement of commercial flight operations.
It is the first Bangladeshi airline to do the five-day IOSA Airline Auditor Training at its own training centre in Dhaka.
Among the 17 participants at the training, CEO Mr Imran Asif; Captain Farhat Jamil, head of Flight Operations and Training; Ghazi Mahmud Iqbal, head of Engineering; Md Shafiqul Alam, head of Quality Assurance; Zafor Uzzaman, head of Ground Operations and DGR; Captain Khalid Shams, chief of Safety; and Hasib ul Alam, head of Airline Security, were present.
The IOSA program is an internationally recognized and accepted evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline.
All IATA members are IOSA registered to maintain their IATA membership.
Initially, set back by post-Covid aircraft leasing market uncertainties hindering the airline’s plans to launch by Q1 2022, Air Astra has secured 3x ATR72-600 aircraft on lease.
The airline plans to commence commercial flight operations across the domestic network in Bangladesh from September, 2022.
French-built ATR72-600 aircraft are advanced turboprop aircraft in under-production and, by the end-2023, Air Astra plans to induct 5x more ATR72-600 aircraft bringing its fleet size to eight aircraft.
