Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan has completed a planned audit of compliance with the requirements of flight safety and aviation security in Qazaq Air JSC’s activities. The audit covers the organization of flight operations, airworthiness, de-icing procedures, compliance with the standards of the flight safety management system, and compliance with aviation safety standards.

The inspection covered Medical, Flight operations, Cabin Service, Airworthiness Licensing, and a follow-up to preview inspection carried out by AAK. It is focused on raising the standards of the entire aviation industry in preparation for the ICAO audit.

As a result of the inspection, 13 violations were identified. The results of the planned audit of Qazaq Air JSC’s activities by the Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan have been sent to the airline.

“Overall, we are pleased to see that Qazaq Air continue to improve their safety performance along with other airline is operating in Kazakhstan”, – said Peter Griffiths, General Director of Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan

Within ten days, Qazaq Air will have to submit to the Aviation Administration a corrective action plan to eliminate all violations. If the violations are not corrected within three months, the operator’s certificate and airworthiness certificates may be revoked, or enforcement action is taken.

On the results of the meeting between AAK and Qazaq Air, it was decided that during the investigation and clarification of the causes of these aviation events, the company will take measures to strengthen control over the condition of the tires and brake system troubleshooting and aircraft stands damage. Qazaq Air will inform flight crews and maintenance personnel to increase the attention paid to the wheels and brakes. The airline will also ensure interaction with the manufacturer of aircraft and pneumatics when determining aviation events’ causes. A concern raised is the control of the ramp and runway as the investigation indicates tire damage from objects on the ground.  This will be further  investigated by the AAK safety ground team.

In addition, to improve Qazaq Air flights’ safety, measures will be taken to transfer the functions of monitoring the technical condition from the jurisdiction of the aviation authorities of Aruba to the Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan.

In general, in 2020 Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan performed 458 inspections, identified over 5000 findings. The aviation companies’ results are closed and supervised, and subject to follow up inspection within the set time. 

Many of these findings are not serious safety findings, but second and third level safety defenses, which are not serious safety issues while essential, have to be implemented.  The implication of serious safety issues results in suspension of operation until they are resolved. 

In 2020 due to failure to comply with the regulations on closing significant findings affecting flight safety or at the request of the company holding the licence, the operation of 6 operators have been suspended: Jet Airlines, Jenis Air, Azee Air, Phoenix, Qazaq Helicopters, MS AIR KZ. The certificates of the two operators were revoked: Bek Air, Sigma Airlines.

It should be noted that such an increased number of findings is directly linked to the number of aviation inspectors involved and training provided by ICAO, UK CAA, and EASA. To date, Aviation Administration is staffed by 89 inspectors and 142 staff in total.