A year after the 2015 EBACE served as a springboard for the U.S.-based National Air Transportation Association (NATA) to expand its Safety 1st training programs internationally, Safety 1st has doubled its reach outside the U.S. The programs are now in place at more than 70 locations internationally, spread fairly evenly throughout the globe. In Europe, the program received a boost when ground support services provider Euro Jet (Booth J065) partnered with NATA to deploy the Safety 1st Professional Line Service Training program (PLST) throughout its network of ground handling agents.

NATA president and CEO Tom Hendricks had noted that the association always had a few international companies use Safety 1st programs such as PLST, but with the rollout of the International Standard for Business Aviation Handling (IS-BAH), which includes NATA’s Safety 1st Ground Audit Program, more operators outside the U.S. became interested in the programs.

The programs are well established in the U.S. at hundreds of FBOs, but as NATA looks to expand them internationally, the association also is looking to make them better suited for international uses. “NATA’s Safety Committee… established a globalization working group that is examining the unique training needs of worldwide users and its training subcommittee proposed a new model for online line service training that accounts for the various ground service delivery models used around the globe,” Hendricks said.

Changes will be incrementally incorporated into the program over the next few years with input from aviation businesses around the world, added Mike France, NATA director of safety and training.

France noted that a major component is an education effort that Safety 1st and IS-BAH are complementary programs, he said. Working in concert with the International Business Aviation Council, NATA is launching an educational effort to highlight the benefits of both programs. “A key feature of this campaign is a website where aircraft operators can verify the status of an individual ground handler or FBO [www.fbostatus.com & www.groundhandlerstatus.com],” Henricks said.

NATA also will be displaying Safety 1st plaques during EBACE at booths of companies that have adopted the program, France added. “We’re really excited about the great response we are getting. We are getting participation from ground handlers around the world,” he said.