OREANDA-NEWS. October 28, 2008. S7 Airlines, Russia’s largest air carrier by number of transported passengers on domestic routes, has successfully completed the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA)*, extending the certificate that it obtained in September 2007 to 2010, reported the press-centre of S7 Airlines.  

The second IOSA audit, conducted by the officially accredited IATA organization ARGUS/PROS, was completed at S7 Airlines in October 2008 and consisted of two stages: an initial assessment of the state of safety and the company’s preparedness for the audit and the main audit of the state of operational safety.

The audit was conducted in all areas of the company’s activities: organizational structures and management, safe flight operation, flight planning and management, aircraft maintenance, safety in the passenger compartment, ground servicing, cargo transport and ensuring aviation safety.

By passing the audit and extending the IOSA certificate, S7 Airlines has confirmed that it adheres to safety standards that are in conformity with the standards approved in the world aviation community. S7 Airlines became an active member of the IATA in 2001. On September 27, 2007 the IATA included S7 Airlines in the Registry of IOSA Operators. The airline became the second air carrier in Russia to successfully pass the full international audit procedure for conformity to operational safety standards.

Membership in the IATA allows the airline to successfully expand cooperation with other leading airlines throughout the world and offer its passengers new routes as part of code-sharing and interline agreements with its partners. For example, on October 16, 2008 S7 Airlines announced the opening of a new flight to Germany and Austria after signing code-sharing agreements with Air Berlin (Germany) and NIKI Luftfahrt GmbH (Austria).

Cooperation with the IATA also allows the airline to more effectively implement modern ticket reservation and purchase systems.

On June 1, 2008, it was recommended that member airlines of the IATA fully transfer to electronic ticketing. S7 Airlines was one of the first airlines in Russia to launch electronic ticketing in April 2007. Currently S7 Airlines’ electronic tickets are accepted in 67 cities of the S7 Airlines network including 35 Russian and 32 foreign airports. During the 2008-2009 winter season S7 Airlines plans to fully transfer to electronic ticketing technology.

All the subsidiaries of S7 Group have also confirmed the high quality of the services they provide by receiving certificates of the IATA. On October 1, 2008 the company’s largest sales agent, the retail chain OOO S7 Ticket, received the official status of accredited agency of the IATA. Now you can go to any office of S7 Ticket and purchase tickets on domestic and international flights of member airlines of the IATA.

* The IATA Operational Safety Audit is the first worldwide flight safety standard implemented by the IATA in 2003. In 2008 this standard became a necessary condition of membership in the IATA. The IOSA audit program is intended to facilitate assessments of operating management and air carrier oversight systems. After successfully passing the IOSA audit, a certificate valid for two years is issued to the airline or the existing certificate is extended.