As the first ever airline from Bangladesh to do so, Air Astra has begun its preparations to undergo the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) from before commencement of commercial operations. On Monday, 13th June the airline started the 5-day IOSA Airline Auditor Training at its own training center in Dhaka. 

Among the 17 participants at the training are Mr. Imran Asif (CEO & Accountable Manager), Capt. Farhat Jamil (Head of Flight Operations & Training), Ghazi Mahmud Iqbal (Head of Engineering/CAMO), Md. Shafiqul Alam (Head of Quality Assurance), Mr. Zafor Uzzaman (Head of Ground Operations & DGR), Capt. Khalid Shams (Chief of Safety), and Hasib ul Alam (Head of Airline Security), among others. 

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 and must remain 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 and is on track to commence commercial flight operations across the domestic network in Bangladesh in September, 2022. French-built ATR72-600 aircraft are the most advanced turboprop aircraft in production today, and by end-2023 Air Astra plans to induct 5x more ATR72-600 aircraft bringing its fleet size to 8 aircraft.