Adopting an effective safety management system has seen the national carrier Air Pacific to be given a two year term to its operation certificate for the first time, instead of the normal one year.

Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji CEO Netava Waqa said this is because the airline has learnt to manage its risks better based on a review by CAAFI.

Waqa said the airline had effectively adopted the Safety Management System and on this basis a two-year term on its operations certification was granted as usually the certificate is reviewed annually.

Waqa said because SMS has allowed operators to manage their own risks and introduce corrective measures to remove or avoid the problems they do not need CAAFI to be carrying out yearly reviews.

Air Pacific manager safety system David Tims said the SMS had made the airline more effective and the most important thing with SMS is when something goes wrong in their system or when they get an outcome that is undesirable, they can trace where the problem surfaced.


Story by: Roneel Lal