News Release

Nuno Pereia, managing director, Bestfly.

Bestfly becomes first business aviation company in Angola to achieve IS-BAO Stage 1

May 11, 2015:

Bestfly, the Angola-based aviation services company has announced ahead of EBACE 2015, where it will be exhibiting on the African Pavilion booth A065, that it has achieved IS-BAO (International Standard for Business Aviation Operators) Stage 1.

This is the first time an Angolan company has been awarded this status, which is designed to help flight deparents and operators achieve a high level of safety and professionalism. It also makes Bestfly one of the very few companies in Africa to achieve the standard. The accreditation is only awarded to a business following a lengthy audit that examines all areas of the business operations, and is the first of three stages. The first focuses on reviewing safety management standards and the integrated quality of service. It is commonly thought of as the pinnacle of industry standards for business aviation.

The Bestfly audit was conducted by Argus International in the summer of 2014 and took a period of just under six months to complete. The audit required Bestfly to commit significant invesent, approximately US$75,000, to fulfill the necessary training, audits and consulting, to achieve the required standards. Bestfly contracted Switzerland-based GCS Consulting to support staff training across the safety management systems requirements in addition to advising Bestfly on how to upgrade its operational manuals to the required ISBAO standards. The GCS team also visited the Bestfly facility to evaluate the operation, whilst Bestfly's quality and safety team, attended dedicated training at the company's Swiss headquarters in Luzern. Onsite training across a range of subjects including dangerous goods management, customer relationship management, and human factors was also delivered by GCS at the Luanda facility.

The Angolan CAA has already certified Bestfly, but as it also operates and assists foreign registered aircraft, predominantly from the Aruba and Bermuda registries the senior management recognized the need to establish the business as a trustworthy and reliable company on the African continent. The awarding of Stage 1 supports Bestfly's continued operations of these aircraft and positions the company as one that has adopted international standards for aircraft flying in and out of Angola. “It's a competitive environment and we wanted customers to automatically associate Bestfly with high levels of operations so they naturally think Bestfly when they think Angola. The Stage 1 accreditation gives them the assurance that they know we operate to certain requirements,” commented Nuno Pereia, managing director Bestfly. “We are delighted to have achieved this milestone. It took a team effort to make it happen and without the commient of our entire team it wouldn't have been possible.”

Bestfly is now aiming to complement the ISBAO Stage 1 with the addition of the ISBAH (International Standards for Business Aviation Handling) certification. “We have begun work on this and hope to achieve certification by Spring 2016,” concludes Pereia.