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IOSA Audit Preparation

IOSA audit preparation that proves every standard documented and implemented, months before the auditor arrives

Every IOSA standard tied to its manual and proof, with gaps found months before the audit.

See one case, screen by screen ↓
demo871standardsthat apply to the airline, re-checked overnight against the current manuals and records — 742 filled
demo9referencesfound pointing at superseded paragraphs after six manual revisions, each with a drafted change
demo172daysbefore the on-site audit, all 68 gaps found, each with a drafted fix
target100%of applicable standards mapped to a current manual paragraph and evidence before the remote document review
In short

What is IOSA Audit Preparation?

IOSA audit preparation is the work an airline does before its IOSA renewal audit to show that every applicable ISARP is documented in a current manual paragraph and implemented in its records. IOSA Audit Preparation gives that work to seven agents that map each standard to its manual paragraph, sample the records, catch references broken by manual revisions and draft the corrective action for every gap. The quality assurance manager accepts and assigns, and the Director of Quality signs the conformance report.

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Updated

The problem

Why IOSA audit preparation still lives in a spreadsheet

Every airline on the IOSA registry must pass an IOSA renewal audit every two years to stay registered. Registration is a condition of IATA membership, and the FAA/DOT codeshare safety program accepts the audit for foreign codeshare partners. ISARP compliance is proved one standard at a time: each ISARP that applies must be documented in a current manual paragraph and implemented in the records. Most quality teams rebuild that proof by hand each cycle: a reference matrix of about 870 standards typed in one row at a time, and evidence chased by email from every department in the last weeks before the audit.

The risk is in what changes between audits. A manual revision moves a paragraph and the matrix still cites the old one. A former station of an acquired airline keeps using its old form. In a risk-based IOSA audit, the IOSA remote document review now comes before the on-site week, so a gap the quality team has not found by then is likely to become a finding, and each finding needs an IOSA corrective action plan before it can be closed.

typical449airlineson the IOSA registry, each re-audited every 24 months
typical2×non-conformitiesfound on average by risk-based IOSA audits in 2025, against conventional audits
typical916standardsin the IOSA Standards Manual (ISM)
Where a quality team's IOSA preparation days go, per audit cycleestimated
By hand73 days
With the solution15 days
  • Rebuilding the ISARP-to-manual reference matrix20 → 3 d
  • Re-checking references after each manual revision6 → 0.5 d
  • Chasing and sampling evidence from departments and stations25 → 6 d
  • Writing corrective actions and manual changes10 → 3 d
  • Building the evidence packs and the audit-week plan8 → 2 d
  • Weekly readiness reporting to the Director of Quality4 → 0.5 d

Estimated split for one renewal cycle at a large network airline, by hand and with the solution.

How it works

How an IOSA standard gets proven

Seven agents map, check, sample and draft the fix for every IOSA standard and check each other; the quality manager accepts, assigns and signs.

What comes in
Proof in871 standards · manuals, revisions, station and training records, last findings
Agents at work
Readiness Agentplans the nightly check
Then
Mapping Agent
Revision Checker
Then
Evidence Agentsamples the records
Integration Agent
Then
Corrective Action Drafterfix + manual redline
Audit Rehearsal Agent
A person decides
Quality assurance manageraccepts, assigns and signs
What comes out
Every spine filled
Gaps owned and dated
Signed conformance report
One case, step by step

One IOSA standard, from a superseded reference to an owned fix

Corvane Airways, a network carrier with its hub at DEN, is 172 days from its risk-based renewal audit: remote document review March 1–19, 2027, on-site at DEN April 5–9, against ISM Edition 18. It is also folding in the manuals of Halvard Air, a regional airline it acquired in March 2026. Here is one Thursday morning, screen by screen, in the working solution.

  1. 0104:52

    The morning note: what was checked, what could not be filled

    Readiness Agent

    Overnight the agents re-checked all 871 standards that apply to Corvane. 742 are filled. The Readiness Agent could not fill 68: 23 have no valid manual reference and 45 are not shown as done in the records, and 19 of them come from Halvard Air. Marisa Calloway's Today screen lists five things that need her, starting with GRH 3.1.5.

    “Three things need you today: the GRH 3.1.5 fix, 54 mappings you can accept in one decision, and 9 drafted corrective actions.”

  2. 02Morning

    IOSA readiness at a glance, on one shelf

    Marisa Calloway · Quality Assurance Manager

    Every applicable standard is a spine on a shelf by discipline: ORG, FLT, DSP, MNT, CAB, GRH, CGO and SEC. A spine is filled when it is documented and done, half filled when the manual says it but the records do not show it yet, hollow when no current paragraph documents it, and tinted when an agent has proposed a mapping that waits for her. Beside it, the Readiness Agent explains how it decides.

    “Each night I check every spine three ways: a current manual paragraph documents it; records from the last 24 months show it done; and a second agent agrees. Only then is a spine filled.”

  3. 0303:57 overnight

    GRH 3.1.5 cites a paragraph that no longer exists

    Revision Checker and Mapping Agent

    GRH 3.1.5 covers fueling with passengers on board. The IOSA reference matrix still cites GOM 4.6.2, Revision 11. The Revision Checker found that Revision 12, effective July 1, 2026, deleted it when the Halvard fueling procedure was merged into the GOM. The Mapping Agent linked the current text, GOM 4.7.3, at 0.96 confidence, and the Revision Checker agreed it is current and covers the cabin crew notification.

    The Mapping Agent only proposes. Below 0.85 confidence it asks instead, and no proposal is shown until a second agent agrees.

  4. 04She asks

    Documented, but not yet implemented at one station

    Evidence Agent

    The Evidence Agent sampled 120 September fueling records. DEN and ORD are 40 of 40. At SEA, 37 of 40 show the cabin crew notification; 3 are on the Halvard form HV-GO-17, which has no field for it. Marisa asks why SEA is different, and the answer cites the record, the form and the revision.

    “This is a stock and briefing problem at one station, not a procedure problem.”

  5. 05One decision

    She accepts the mapping, with a reason and her signature

    Marisa Calloway · Quality Assurance Manager

    Marisa reads the sources and accepts GOM 4.7.3 Revision 12 with reason code A1, “Mapping correct as proposed”. The superseded reference GOM 4.6.2 comes off the matrix. The spine turns half filled: documented, not yet shown as done.

    “I, Marisa Calloway, sign this decision. It is recorded with the time, the reason and the sources.”

  6. 06Assigned

    The gap goes to Ground Operations, owned and dated

    Marisa Calloway · Quality Assurance Manager

    She assigns CA-2026-061 to Ground Operations and Carmen Delacroix, due December 15, 2026, with a reminder three days before. The note to the liaison is already written: retire HV-GO-17 at SEA first; the December re-sample closes it. A manual change, MCR-2026-118, will correct the matrix row. When the re-sample comes back clean, a person verifies and closes the action, and the spine fills.

  7. 07Corrective actions

    The IOSA corrective action plan, drafted with its root cause

    Corrective Action Drafter

    The Corrective Action Drafter wrote CA-2026-061 at 04:44: the root cause (the Halvard fueling log stayed in use at SEA after Revision 12 withdrew it), the action (remove the HV-GO-17 stock at SEA, brief the 14 SEA fueling supervisors), and the evidence that will close it (40 SEA records re-sampled, none failing). It now sits, assigned, among the 62 corrective actions drafted from the 68 gaps; 8 others still wait for Marisa to approve, edit or reject.

    The Corrective Action Drafter drafts only. A person approves, edits or rejects it with a reason.

  8. 08With the owner

    The manual change goes out as a redline with its reason

    Sam Ostrowski · Manual Owner, GOM

    The Revision Checker re-checked the 31 references into six revised manuals and found 9 broken. MCR-2026-118 shows the old and new text of GOM 4.7.3 step 6, which now adds “Form HV-GO-17 is not used at any station.”, and the matrix row from GOM 4.6.2 (Rev 11) to GOM 4.7.3 (Rev 12). Sam approves it in the manual system; the Revision Checker confirms the published text.

  9. 09Before November 1

    The acquired airline's manuals, read against yours

    Integration Agent

    The Integration Agent read Halvard Air's 9 manuals: 486 procedures in IOSA scope, 401 matching a Corvane procedure, 52 already merged, 14 in conflict and 19 gaps on the shelf. Winter makes HAL-C-07 the first to decide: SEA and PDX still post the 2024–25 de-icing holdover table. Elliot Vance, the IOSA Coordinator, decides each conflict.

    The Integration Agent never merges manuals; every conflict goes to the IOSA Coordinator.

  10. 10April 5–9

    The audit week, rehearsed question by question

    Audit Rehearsal Agent

    From the shelf and the people who own each discipline, the Audit Rehearsal Agent built the on-site week at DEN, 8 interviewees and 214 likely questions, and an evidence pack per discipline. Carmen Delacroix is 19 of 24 ready: the question “Show me how the cabin crew are told fueling has started at SEA” is marked record missing until CA-2026-061 closes.

    The evidence packs are released to the auditor only when a person says so.

Who it’s for

Built for everyone who answers to the IOSA auditor.

The same audit cycle, seen by the five people who carry it: what their preparation looked like, and what it looks like now.

MC
Marisa CallowayQuality Assurance Manager · owns the IOSA readiness plan
Quality Assurance Manager
Before
“I don't need another spreadsheet. I need to know which standards are hollow, why, and who is fixing them.”
Now
Starts the day with the agents' note, accepts mappings with a reason and her signature, assigns each gap and watches the spines fill.
EV
Elliot VanceIOSA Coordinator · runs the program, the audit week and the evidence packs
IOSA Coordinator
Before
“Every cycle I rebuild 871 references by hand, and a manual revision breaks thirty of them the week after.”
Now
Sets the ISM edition, dates and scope once, decides the Halvard Air conflicts and releases the evidence packs for the remote document review.
CD
Carmen DelacroixDepartment Quality Liaison · 92 GRH standards at 31 stations
Department Quality Liaison, Ground Operations
Before
“Tell me exactly which record is missing at which station, and I'll get it.”
Now
Sees only her department's gaps, each with the failing records named by station and date, and submits evidence or disputes a call with a reason.
GW
Graham WhitfordDirector of Quality · signs the conformance report
Director of Quality
Before
“Before I sign, show me the proof behind every ‘conforms’.”
Now
Reads a weekly readiness note with its sources, sees the trend by discipline and signs the conformance report with every gap listed with its plan.
SO
Sam OstrowskiManual Owner · approves changes to the GOM
Manual Owner, Ground Operations Manual
Before
“Send me the redline and the reason, not a request to ‘fix chapter 4’.”
Now
Gets each drafted change as a redline with the standard, the reason and the records behind it, and approves it in the manual system.
Built on the engine

7 agents. Each with one job, and hard limits.

Seven agents map, check, sample and draft the fix for every IOSA standard and check each other; the quality manager accepts, assigns and signs.

Readiness Agent

Plans the nightly check across every applicable IOSA standard, gives the work to the other agents, writes the morning note and the weekly note, and says which spines it could not fill and why.

  • Never accepts a mapping or closes a gap
  • Never changes the audit scope
  • Nothing goes to the Director of Quality until a person presses Send
Mapping Agent

Proposes the manual paragraph that documents each standard, with its confidence, from the manual library and the licensed ISM data.

  • Proposes only; a person accepts
  • Below 0.85 confidence it asks instead of proposing
Revision Checker

Reads every manual revision the day it is published, re-checks each IOSA reference into it, flags superseded or moved paragraphs and checks every proposal the Mapping Agent makes.

  • Never edits a manual or a mapping
  • Where it disagrees with the Mapping Agent, the person decides
Evidence Agent

Samples the records that show a procedure is implemented, by station and month, reads each one and names the records that fall short.

  • Reads only; never contacts staff directly
  • Says when a sample is too small or a feed is down
Corrective Action Drafter

Drafts the IOSA corrective action plan for every gap — root cause, action, owner, due date and closing evidence — and the manual redline that goes to the manual owner.

  • Drafts only; a person approves
  • Never sends anything to IATA
Integration Agent

Reads the acquired airline's manuals against yours and against the ISARPs, and sorts each procedure as matched, merged, in conflict or missing.

  • Never merges manuals
  • Conflicts go to the IOSA Coordinator
Audit Rehearsal Agent

Builds the on-site week, the evidence pack per discipline and the questions each interviewee is likely to hear, and checks every answer has its record.

  • Never contacts the auditor
  • Never guesses IATA's audit priorities, which IATA does not share
Quality assurance manager

Accepts mappings and assigns gaps; manual owners approve changes; the Director of Quality signs. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask the agents about any standard, station or manual

Ask in plain words, or tell an agent what to do. Every answer cites the manual paragraph, revision or record it came from.

Why is SEA different?

SEA joined from Halvard Air in March 2026. Its September fueling records are 37 of 40 on the Corvane form CV-GO-41; the other 3 are on HV-GO-17, the Halvard form, which has no field for the cabin crew notification. GOM Revision 12 withdrew it at all stations by September 30, so this is a stock and briefing problem at one station, not a procedure problem.

What exactly changed in Rev 12?

GOM Revision 12 took effect on July 1, 2026 and deleted 4.6.2; its content moved to new 4.7.3. The IOSA reference matrix was last edited in March 2025 and still says GOM 4.6.2 Rev 11. The current paragraph covers both the captain and the cabin crew notification.

Re-sample SEA after Dec 1

Planned: 40 SEA fueling records from December 1–10, with the answer on December 11 on whether every one shows the cabin crew notification. If any fail, CA-2026-061 is reopened rather than closed.

Why is MNT 2.6.4 at risk of repeating?

SEA's register shows 7 of 96 tools past calibration, the oldest 41 days. This is the same finding as April 2025 at MIA; the fix, a monthly report to the station manager, never reached SEA.

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.

TodayIOSA audit readiness for the day: days to the on-site audit, standards filled, gaps and mappings waiting, what needs the quality manager and the agents' cited morning note.
The IOSA readiness shelfAll 871 applicable IOSA standards by discipline, filled when documented and implemented, with the Readiness Agent explaining what it could not fill.
One standard, documented and implementedGRH 3.1.5 with the superseded and the current manual paragraph, the records sampled at DEN, ORD and SEA, and each agent step overnight.
Ask the agentsThe quality manager asks why SEA is different; the Evidence Agent answers with the records, the form and the manual revision cited.
Accept with a reason and signatureThe mapping decision with its reason code, an optional note and the quality manager's signature, recorded on the audit trail.
Assign the gapThe corrective action assigned to Ground Operations and its liaison, with the due date, reminder and a note, and the standard's progress from found to closed.
IOSA gap analysis by departmentThe IOSA gap analysis for every standard not yet filled, by department and liaison: not documented or not shown as done, each with its corrective action, state and due date, bulk assign, and the Readiness Agent's note that 10 are due by the end of October and 19 come from Halvard Air.
Corrective action plansAll 62 corrective actions the agents drafted, by stage, each with its root cause, action, closing evidence, owner and due date, for the quality manager to approve, edit or reject.
Manual revision watchSix revisions re-checked against the IOSA reference matrix, nine broken references and each drafted manual change as a redline for its owner.
The acquired airline's manualsHalvard Air's 486 procedures in IOSA scope sorted as matched, merged, in conflict or missing, with each conflict side by side.
Audit week and rehearsalThe timeline to the remote document review and on-site audit, the week by day and discipline, interviewees and their likely questions.
Readiness reportsStandards filled week by week and by discipline, and the weekly readiness note drafted for the Director of Quality.
Rules and thresholdsThe confidence floors, evidence age, sample size and agreement rules the agents work to, changed only with a signature.
Governance

Built for IOSA audit preparation: cited, signed, on the record.

Every statement cites its sourceEach mapping, evidence statement and agent message links to the manual, revision and paragraph, or to the record, station and date, with the supporting words highlighted.
A named person decides and signsAgents propose. The Quality Assurance Manager accepts mappings and approves corrective actions with a reason code and signature, manual owners approve changes, and only the Director of Quality signs the conformance report.
Two agents must agreeThe Revision Checker re-checks every mapping before a person sees it. Where the Mapping Agent and the Revision Checker disagree, the question goes to the person.
Nothing leaves unsignedAgents never send anything to IATA or the auditor, never edit a manual and never contact staff directly. Evidence packs are released to the auditor, read-only, only when a person signs the release.
Roles enforced on every screenEach role sees only what it may do: a liaison cannot accept a mapping, and only the IOSA Coordinator or Director of Quality changes settings. Preview any role to see the switched-off buttons and the reason.
A full audit trailEvery action by people and agents is recorded with who, what, when, the reason code and the signature, and can be searched by person, agent or action and exported as a file.
Configuration

Your IOSA program, your thresholds

The audit cycle and the rules the agents work to are settings. Only the IOSA Coordinator or the Director of Quality changes them, and every change is signed and logged.

SettingDefaultChoose from
IOSA Standards ManualEdition 18Edition 18 · Edition 17
Audit typeRisk-based renewal auditRisk-based renewal audit · Conventional renewal audit
Propose a mapping at confidence0.85Below this the Mapping Agent asks instead of proposing
Bulk-accept floor0.92Only mappings at or above it can be accepted in one decision
Evidence age24 monthsOlder records do not count as implemented
Records sampled40Per station, per standard, each sample
A failing recordAny failureOne failing record makes the standard “not shown as done”
EscalationAfter 2 missed remindersTo the department head; reminders 3 days before each due date
Connections

Works with the systems your quality program already runs on

Manual libraryevery company manual and revision, including an acquired airline's
Quality management systemfindings and corrective actions, read and write
Station recordsfueling, load control, de-icing and pushback, by station
Training recordspilots, flight attendants, ramp, technicians and dispatchers
Maintenance recordswork packages, tool calibration and deferrals
IATA ISM datayour licensed edition of the IOSA Standards Manual
What it changes

The difference, in numbers.

Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.

target
100%
of applicable IOSA standards mapped to a current manual paragraph and evidence before the remote document review
Shelf full by Feb 15
document review starts Mar 1
target
50%
fewer findings at the renewal audit, where risk-based audits found twice the non-conformities of conventional ones in 2025
Risk-based audit, prepared by hand2× findings
With agentshalf
target
172days
before the on-site audit, every gap found, with a drafted fix and an owner

“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (IATA Safety Audit Programs fact sheet, June 2026 — 449 airlines on the IOSA registry, 916 standards in the ISM, 229 risk-based audits in 2025 that found on average about twice the non-conformities of conventional audits; and, for the codeshare context, the FAA/DOT Codeshare Safety Program Guidelines). ISM text is IATA's copyright: the working solution paraphrases each standard, and the standard numbers on its screens are illustrative, matched to the airline's licensed edition at set-up. People, Corvane Airways and Halvard Air named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.

Questions

What airline quality teams ask us about IOSA audit preparation.

What is IOSA Audit Preparation?

IOSA audit preparation is the work an airline does before its IOSA renewal audit to show that every applicable ISARP is documented in a current manual paragraph and implemented in its records. IOSA Audit Preparation gives that work to seven agents that map each standard to its manual paragraph, sample the records, catch references broken by manual revisions and draft the corrective action for every gap. The quality assurance manager accepts and assigns, and the Director of Quality signs the conformance report.

How do you prepare for a risk-based IOSA audit?

Risk-based audits review your documents remotely before the on-site week, so the proof has to be complete months earlier. The solution re-checks every applicable standard each night, shows readiness on one shelf by discipline, and counts down to the document review and the on-site audit. In the working solution, all 68 gaps are found with a drafted fix 172 days before the on-site audit.

What does “documented and implemented” mean for an IOSA standard?

Documented means a current manual paragraph says the airline does it; implemented means the records show it is done. The Mapping Agent and Revision Checker handle the first, and the Evidence Agent samples records by station and month for the second. A standard is filled only when both are accepted and a second agent agrees.

How does it keep the IOSA reference matrix current after a manual revision?

The Revision Checker reads each revision the day it is published and re-checks every IOSA reference into it. A paragraph that was deleted or moved is flagged the next morning, and the Corrective Action Drafter writes the manual change as a redline for the manual owner to approve.

Can it bring an acquired airline's manuals into IOSA conformance?

Yes. The Integration Agent reads the acquired airline's manuals against yours and against the ISARPs and sorts each procedure as matched, merged, in conflict or missing. The IOSA Coordinator decides each conflict; the agent never merges manuals itself.

Does it help prevent repeat findings from the last IOSA audit?

Yes. The agents re-check that the fix for each finding and observation from the previous audit still holds, and the Evidence Agent flags the ones at risk of repeating, such as a calibration fix that never reached a newly joined station, so you can act before the auditor looks.

Do people stay in control of the IOSA conformance report?

Yes. Agents propose, cite and draft; a named person accepts every mapping and approves every corrective action with a reason code and signature. Only the Director of Quality signs the conformance report, and nothing goes to IATA or the auditor unsigned.

How long does it take to go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents: your licensed ISM data, your manuals and reference matrix, and the systems that hold your station, training and maintenance records. It goes live once every quality gate has passed, and we walk you through it on your own manuals first.

See it on
your manuals.

We'll run IOSA Audit Preparation on a sample of your own manuals, reference matrix and station records.