April 15, 2019 – The Instituto Nacional da Aviação Civil (INAVIC) of Angola today announced that it has hired The Wicks Group (TWG) to perform a Baseline Assessment of INAVIC’s safety oversight systems that will assist the Government of Angola in its efforts to obtain the FAA Category 1 safety rating needed for TAAG Angola Airlines (TAAG-SA) to launch direct flights between Angola and the United States.
Present at the formal signing ceremony were Dr. Ricardo Viegas D’Abreu, Ministro dos Transportes da República de Angola, Sr. Gaspar Santos, Director General do INAVIC, and Sr. Glenn Wicks, Managing Director of The Wicks Group. At the signing ceremony, Minister Abreu emphasized President João Lourenço’s vision of creating a direct air link between Angola and the US in the near term. Mr. Wicks confirmed that The Wicks Group’s baseline assessment will provide the Government of Angola with the readily actionable timeline and resource requirements necessary to achieve FAA Category 1 status in the near future.
During the Baseline Assessment, The Wicks Group will evaluate INAVIC’s compliance with international aviation safety standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and provide INAVIC with a report of findings and recommendations. TWG will also conduct site visits of TAAG-SA, SonAir and other Angolan air carriers to assess safety oversight of the carriers.
Beyond providing INAVIC with an expert technical review of its personnel licensing, aircraft operations and airworthiness oversight practices, TWG will also present INAVIC with a work plan for implementing, with TWG’s technical assistance, corrective actions to resolve any identified compliance gaps. This will further support INAVIC’s efforts to achieve an FAA Category 1 rating for Angola and TAAG-SA’s plans to initiate direct flights from Angola to the United States in the near future.
Established in 1999 and based in Washington, DC, The Wicks Group is an international aviation consulting firm with a 100% record of success in providing FAA Category 1 technical assistance to civil aviation authorities worldwide, with 10 Category 1 ratings issued to TWG clients to date. In 2018 alone, TWG assisted the governments of India, Azerbaijan and Panama in successfully obtaining FAA Category 1 ratings. TWG is also a longtime technical service provider of the Government of Cabo Verde, having helped the civil aviation authority of Cabo Verde secure Category 1 status first in 2003 and again in 2016. TWG also regularly assists air carriers with obtaining the US government approvals needed for US air carrier operations and foreign repair stations with securing FAA certification to maintain US-registered aircraft.
For more information about The Wicks Group, please contact Glenn Wicks at gpwicks@wicks-group.com.