The International Air Transport Association (IATA) Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) is an industry global standard for the oversight and audit of ground service providers (GSPs). It is complementary to the internationally recognized and accepted IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an air operator.
Following the successful completion of an ISAGO Audit at its corporate headquarters and ground handling operations at its only station, the IATA has awarded Fraport AG an ISAGO Registration for the specified ground operations provided at Frankfurt Airport. The ISAGO Registration is valid for a period of two years, renewed upon the successful completion of another ISAGO Audit.
ISAGO offers benefits to airlines, GSPs, airports, regulatory authorities and the flying public by establishing safer ground operations, fewer accidents and injuries, elimination of redundant audits, and reduced costs. The ISAGO Audits are conducted against industry developed standards by auditors selected, trained and qualified by IATA. Further information can be found at www.iata.org/isago.
Under the leadership of Andreas Schmitt, Management Systems Officer for Ground Services, specialist teams of Ground Services, Aviation, Occupational health and safety and Human Resources had dealt intensively with the requirements of the new standards and questionnaires issued for 2021.
A documented answer had to be given for each of the approximately 900 questions. For the Organization and Management (ORM) topic block, a "Fraport Ground Services at a glance" was specially created in English to answer the corresponding questions. Further topic blocks, which were supervised by the respective Ground Services management system coordinators, were:
Load Control (LOD), Passenger and Baggage Handling (PAB), Aircraft Handling and Loading (HDL), and Aircraft Ground Movement (AGM).
During the four-day audit, the auditors commissioned by IATA looked at all relevant guidelines, process documentation and training certificates. The implementation of the ISAGO standards in operations was also checked on site during several handling operations.
There were few findings, which were processed within 6 weeks. After the final audit, IATA delivered the new ISAGO Certificate of Registration and Accreditation in September, which is valid until 17 June 2023.
The next ISAGO audit will take place in January 2023.
