Helisul receives IS-BAO certification for business aircraft operations
The helicopter operator Helisul Aviação, with headquarters in Curitiba and bases in several Brazilian states, has just achieved the IS-BAO certification, which establishes requirements of excellence for the operation of executive aircraft. The company is the first in southern Brazil to have this recognition.
The Certificate was issued on November 30, 2021 by the renowned international non-governmental organization IBAC - translated into Portuguese, the English acronym means International Executive Aviation Council. Until then, Helisul had the regulatory certification from the Agencia Nacional de Aviação Civil (ANAC), which is mandatory for the operation of aircraft in Brazil.
The seal arrives on the eve of Helisul's 50th anniversary, which will be celebrated in October 2022. The IS-BAO certification establishes a severe international standard for executive aircraft operations, not being regulatory, that is, it is not mandatory for law. However it is highly desirable by the most demanding users and mandatory to allow chartering of aircraft for the employees of many large multinational companies.
This certification determines standards of excellence, with operational, maintenance and safety requirements that go far beyond the minimum regulatory requirements established by ANAC - the competent civil aviation authority in Brazil. The certification process at Helisul was conducted by the Operational Safety manager, Salvador Queiroz Rodrigues, and by the company's Certification and Quality Assurance manager, Mauro Gageiro Pinto.
According to Gageiro Pinto, Helisul sought IS-BAO certification not only to meet its demanding customers, but also for the relevance and recognition of IBAC as an international entity in executive aviation.
“On the demand side, there is a select group of business aircraft operator customers looking for a higher level of quality. On the supply side, it is a certification by which Helisul can be recognizably differentiated from aviation companies that only adhere to the regulatory requirements of the ANAC”, he says.
With the IS-BAO seal, Helisul, which is a reference in the executive civil aviation market in Brazil, gains even more prominence in the segment. “It will be a remarkable business card for other demanding potential customers looking for professionalism, quality and safety in aircraft charter. In addition, the achievement of the IS-BAO certification is a milestone to further enhance our company's upcoming 50th anniversary”, celebrates the manager.
Legacy of Transformation
Certification by the IS-BAO takes place in three stages. The first, initial and provisional, is valid for a maximum of 24 months; the second, intermediate, can be kept indefinitely; and the third, more advanced, is optional. At this moment, Helisul celebrates the recent achievement of the IS-BAO certification in stage 1, explains Gageiro Pinto.
“Stage 2 is already on our radar. More than that, we have planned a good part of the actions aimed at its implementation, having already started several of them. We are very excited about the satisfaction, positive energy and motivation brought to our employees by the achievement of certification”.
IS-BAO is built around an Operational Safety Management System (SMS), which helps to assess and mitigate risks and continually improve practices and procedures. The IS-BAO audit is performed by independent third-party auditors. In the systematic and objective review process, several criteria within civil aviation operations are examined.
These include organization and personnel, standard operating procedures, training programs, domestic and international flight operations, aircraft equipment and maintenance, company operations manual, emergency response plan, environmental management, occupational health and safety, transportation of dangerous goods and security.
Therefore, the validation process, as highlighted by Gageiro Pinto, involved the entire company. At Helisul, the achievement of the IS-BAO certification changed the routine and culture of all the company's approximately 500 employees. The process, reveals the certifications manager, leaves a legacy for the entire team.
“Based on a greater integration of the different areas of the organization and the increase, in each employee, of the feeling of belonging, the company's functioning gets better and this brings fantastic results”, he evaluates.
For Gageiro Pinto, it was not a trivial process. It was highly challenging, but happy, both for the development within Helisul itself, and for the individual career.
For Gageiro Pinto, it was not a trivial process. It was highly challenging, but happy, both for the development within Helisul itself, and for the individual career of each of the employees. “It was a great exercise to implement and fulfill the new, additional requirements, but, more than that, to get to implement a new way of thinking, overcome resistance and insecurities in the face of changes and, in the end, assimilate them with tranquility and spontaneity. ”
Learn more about Helisul
Founded in 1972, as Tropical Táxi Aéreo, the company began operating panoramic flights in Foz do Iguaçu, managed by entrepreneurs from the then Companhia Tropical de Hotéis, belonging to Varig. Later, it had its corporate name changed to Helisul. But it was in the 1990s that the company expanded its service offering, establishing bases throughout Brazil, under the competent and visionary direction of commanders Eloy and Celso Biesuz. Today it has a structure of hangars, an administrative and aeronautical maintenance team and highly trained pilots. It has 14 bases in different regions of Brazil (Curitiba, Foz do Iguaçu, São José dos Pinhais, Brasília, Florianópolis, Rio de Janeiro, São José, São Paulo, etc.), operating throughout the national territory, providing specialized air services (SAE) with helicopters and planes, hangar and ground support for third-party aircraft (FBO), maintenance, management and chartering of aircraft, aeromedical transport and scenic flights. Helisul's current fleet comprises more than 50 aircraft, including helicopters and planes.
*NOTE: This publication was written in Portuguese (Brazil) and automatically translated by Google robots to English. MORE THAN FLY, adopted Google technology for everyone around the world to have access to information and optimize our time and budget with translations. We ask for common sense to take into account translation errors. After all, every robot is limited and is never compared to the superiority of a human intelligence.
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