Turkmenistan Airlines improves safety standards with Lufthansa

Turkmenistan Airlines (TUA) is the only airline of Turkmenistan, headquartered in Ashgabat. It operates domestic and international passenger and cargo services  since 4 May 1992.

TUA is committed to raising their performance following difficulties in satisfying relevant EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) requirements at the beginning of this year. Since then, the airline with Lufthansa Consulting has developed and agreed on corrective action plans and has also begun implementing them. Together with the aviation experts from Lufthansa Consulting, the operator is continuously working on both the management system changes and the practical implementation. This involves improvement of main management systems, particular the Safety and Quality management system, documentation development and process implementation, personnel training, software implementation and equipment procurement, and most importantly, cultural changes within the company.

As an update to the initial meeting in March, the management of Turkmenistan Airlines accompanied by Lufthansa Consulting on 29 May 2019 presented a progress report on the improvement in safety standards to the EASA Third Country Operators (TCO) team, which is the technical advisor to the EU Air Safety Committee (ASC).

To stay informed about the continuous efforts by TUA to resolve the initial findings and work on the corrective action plans supported by Lufthansa Consulting, EASA has welcomed the next progress meeting during the second part of July. As a further step towards achieving compliance, the airline expressed its intention to start the formal request for the mandatory on-site assessment by EASA in early August 2019.

Lufthansa Consulting airline safety experts continue to support TUA in guiding the implementation of the safety improvement measures and monitoring the progress along its comprehensive action plan, which covers among others improvement of SMS and flight data monitoring, restructuring of the CAMO and Part 145 organization, the ground operations organization and standards in flight operations to achieve compliance requirements and prepare for IOSA audit.

The airline transports more than 5,000 passengers daily within the country and nearly three million passengers annually on the international and domestic routes together. The fleet consists of modern Western aircraft (such as Boeing 737, 757, 777) and a cargo fleet of IL 76.