How are safety standards enforced in an airline which is not IOSA certified?

I'm considering booking a flight with WOW Airlines and since it's the first time I hear about it I did some research on google and I find mostly good reviews.

However, while looking for the safety ranking, I found out that WOW Airlines is not IOSA certified.

What is IOSA Certification? The IATA* Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification audit is an internationally recognised and accepted evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline. IOSA uses internationally recognised audit principles and is designed to conduct audits in a standardised and consistent manner. Airlines are re evaluated every two years. Registering for IOSA certification and auditing is not mandatory therefore an airline that does not have IOSA certification may have either failed the IOSA audit or alternatively chosen not to participate. *IATA (International Air Transport Association) - See more at: http://www.airlineratings.com/ratings/313/wow-air#sthash.oLSquDNX.dpuf

While I understand this is not mandatory, does this mean they have low safety standards or said standards are enforced in other ways?

safety airlines

Best Answer

Airline safety is generally primarily enforced by the Government of the country/region where the airline is based. As WOW Air is based in Iceland, they would fall under the regulations of the Icelandic Civil Aviation Administration.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) provides guidelines on what countries should enforce as a part of a safety policy, and they also carry out safety audits on the country (but not specific airlines) to confirm that the country is meeting a minimum safety level.

They can also be further governed by the safety regulations of the countries that they fly to. As WOW Air flies to countries within the European Union, they would also fall under the The European Aviation Safety Policy. In general the EU will not directly police foreign airlines (although they can if they have specific concerns, and they do carry out random safety checks on airlines at EU airports), but will rely on the airlines home country enforcement, and the results from the ICAO audits to determine if an airline is safe.

The EU also maintains a blacklist of airlines that are not allowed fly into the EU (including into it's airspace) as they are deemed unsafe, however obviously WOW is not on that list.