At the 218th ICAO council session held in Montreal in November, the International Civil Aviation Organisation council accepted a recommendation from the chairman that the International Aviation Services Organisation (IASO) be invited to attend official meetings as an observer.

For the purposes of accreditation, council chairman Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu noted that IASO is a non-profit organisation, registered in 2016, with the main objective of organising, educating and improving the aviation services industry through collaboration.

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and with regional offices in Gothenburg, Sweden; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Montreal, Canada; Orlando, Florida; and Cairo, Egypt, IASO provides a forum for consultation on industry issues worldwide. It has two sub-organisations representing international fuel services and international handling. As a forum representing the needs of ground handling companies at international safety events, IASO assists in the implementation of ICAO standards by ground operators.

The IASO was established in 2015 by founder and chairman Munir Kahlifa, co-founder Samir H Al Asadi, CEO captain Samir Sajet and a board of directors. Khalifa says: “IASO is determined to work towards the improvement of the aviation services industry, using best business practices and speaking with one voice for all services providers to ensure credible representation for all IASO industry members.”