Building up an Integrated Compliance Management System for Aviation Companies: A Theoretical and Methodological Framework

Abstract

The operation of aviation companies is subject to simultaneous control by international, European, and national norms regulating flight safety, risk management, internal control system, and normative compliance. However, ISO standards, ICAO documents, and EASA normative framework, regulating only selected components of these processes, do not propose a holistic approach to their integration in a single compliance management system of the aviation company. The article’s purpose is to substantiate a theoretical and methodological framework for an integrated compliance management system in aviation companies, and to propose its conceptual model. Results of a comparative analysis of the international normative framework for compliance management in aviation companies are given, with outlining its principal constraints on the integration of the normative compliance requirements. A conceptual model for the integrated compliance management system is proposed, where coordination of the processes assuring normative compliance is defined as the central component. The model combines corporate management, compliance risk management and compliance culture; it relies on compliance monitoring, Aviation Safety Management System (SMS), Quality Management System (QMS), and internal control. A matrix for distribution of functions between the system’s entities, a matrix for assessment of compliance risks, and a set of key indicators for performance assessment of compliance management were designed to support the model’s implementation. The proposed approach enables for integration of international requirements on normative compliance, risk management and corporate management within an integrated organizational system, which is supposed to enhance the performance of aviation companies, minimize the compliance risks and lay a methodological foundation for further development of models for maturity assessment of compliance management systems.