The Difference Between IGOM and ISAGO

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has produced both the IATA Ground Operations Manual (IGOM) and the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO), which serve as the main initiatives in terms of standards and requirements adopted internationally by ground handling service providers (GHSP) to standardize management and operating practices and improve safety performance.

The IGOM standardizes ground handling processes and procedures with the aim of reducing the complexity between working with multiple airlines, airports and ground service providers, explain officials at IATA. Standardizing ground and ramp operations for airlines can help drive down costs, reduce the risk of aircraft damages and simplify training requirements, IATA officials say, adding the IGOM has also been known as an acceptable means of compliance for a reference tool for ISAGO audits.

ISAGO is an industry program for the global oversight of GHSPs. According to IATA officials, ISAGO drives the standardization of operational procedures and management by GHSPs while also harmonizing best practices among ground handling stakeholders. ISAGO audits are performed by qualified auditors, members of the Charter of Professional Auditors (CoPA).

These standards are naturally evolving in the pursuit of continuous improvement and to address emerging operational issues.

Effects of Standardization

One of the most impactful examples of how ISAGO and IGOM have standardized organizational and operating practices among service providers has been the introduction of safety management system (SMS) requirements, according to a spokesperson for IATA.

“ISAGO introduced mandatory SMS requirements long before ICAO Annex 19 was published. We adopted them from IOSA and catered them for GHSPs operations, bridging their collaboration with the airlines and airports,” IATA’s spokesperson says. “It was ISAGO that made SMS mandatory for all ISAGO GHSPs and it was again ISAGO that made sure SMS requirements were later fully aligned with ICAO Annex 19. GHSPs’ SMS were made equal to those introduced and implemented by the airlines, and ISAGO played a major contributing factor in it. In parallel, we must recognize an effort and resources invested by every single GHSP but the driving force behind was definitely ISAGO in the majority of cases.”

ISAGO and IGOM have contributed significantly to standardize the approach in GHSPs. In the past, GHSPs often did not operate their own management system and operations manuals, relying instead on customer airline manuals, affirms David Clark, global head of quality, health, safety and environment (QHSE) at Swissport.

“Now the GHSP community have matured to operate their own management systems and operations manuals and have generally used the IATA standards to do this,” he says. “IATA standards have been developed and evolved over the past two decades with input from all stakeholders and based on core ICAO driven principles which makes them very well suited for GHSPs as they integrate and align with airline and airport management systems using the same terminologies and principles.”

Additional examples of how ISAGO and IGOM have contributed to standardization include a common understanding of hazard identification methods and systems as well as common training programs that match IATA structures, according to Clark.

“On the operational standards within IGOM there is broad alignment, however we have still not reached the goal of handling, for example, an A320 in the same way regardless of the color of the tailfin with airlines not all fully adopting IGOM,” he points out. “IATA is working to influence more airlines to complete gap analysis and adopt IGOM and we welcome this within the GHSP community.”

Evolution of IGOM

IGOM edition 13 has been in effect since April 2024 and the industry has requested not to issue any IGOM changes this year to accommodate the industry adoption of IGOM, providing airlines and GHSPs with enough time to review the IGOM provisions, perform comparison of their own procedures with industry benchmarks, share their variations via IATA’s OPS portal tool and give them a space to align with IGOM where feasible, affirms IATA officials.

“This is also why the next edition 14 of IGOM is planned for June 2025 with an effective date of January 2026. Having said, the working group members (airlines, GHSPs and some airports) that are behind IGOM ongoing enhancements have worked tirelessly the entire year to keep IGOM relevant and fit for purpose, enhancing the following procedures, to name a few: engine danger area (risk of running engines), special load, potable water, passenger and baggage procedures improvement driving mishandling baggage reduction and several others,” the spokesperson says.

The latest edition of IGOM introduces new requirements, such as cargo hold door operations, the no-touch policy, and fire prevention measures, among others, all aimed to improve safety, reduce injuries, prevent disruptions, and enhance overall efficiency, observes Clark.

“As IGOM is widely adopted by airlines, this also promotes consistency and standardization across the whole industry, including GHSPs,” he says. “This helps our colleagues avoid dealing with different terminologies and procedures when working with different airlines, airports and ground service providers. By aligning our procedures with IGOM, we simplify operations and training requirements, reduce complexity and ensure smoother collaboration across the board.”

According to IATA officials, the main key drivers behind IGOM changes are the variations.

“The OPS portal tool allows to see the type of variations the airlines and GHSPs have and by reviewing them with stakeholders, seeking commonalities and consensus on a way forward, it is possible to obtain insight on where IGOM requirements need to change to align with the industry latest developments but also to reduce the global level of variations,” IATA’s spokesperson says.

ISAGO Update

The ISAGO Standard Manual (GOSM) will be updated in 2025 with edition 11, which will replace the current edition 10 version 1, which has been used in the last four years, explains Clark.

“In 2024 IATA introduced the OPS portal for airlines and GHSPs to provide access to a range of operational standards on different ground handling requirements, allow GHSPs to show compliance to IGOM and to prepare for the ISAGO audits,” he says. “Another change was done for the headquarter (HQ) certification. In the new model, the HQ will be certified only for organizational management and training and the rest of the operational disciplines will be certified only for the ISAGO certified stations.”

The main changes for ISAGO are reflected in the complete transformation of the audit standards/checklists, where the requirements used for future ISAGO audits (Q2 2025 and onwards) will be fully based on IGOM and IATA Airport Handling Manual (AHM) provisions, explain IATA officials.

“This will eliminate any potential ambiguity that could have existed between IGOM, AHM and GOSM and sets the industry baseline. Moreover, this represents undisputable alignment between the industry standards and what is being audited under ISAGO, global standardization is the driving force behind those changes, and lastly 160+ ISAGO airlines that rely on ISAGO audit reports and assessments are now being very clear on what the GHSPs implemented and follow as part of their standard operating procedures (SOP),” the IATA spokesperson says. “This ultimately offers the airline space for efficiency, audit reduction, cost reduction, refocussing resources where needed the most.”

Future of IGOM

ISAGO and IGOM initiatives will be working with regulators – such as the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and others – and airports to offer an industry solution to their regulatory/standardization efforts, according to IATA officials.

The variations shared by airlines and GHSPs via the OPS portal are and will be the main source for future IGOM enhancements, driving their reduction and harmonization, explain officials at IATA.

“The changes in IGOM are also driven by the ground operations occurrences reported via IATA’s Incident Data eXchange (IDX),” points out IATA’s spokesperson. “We have mapped the IGOM procedures with the IDX taxonomy, to showcase which incidents could have been mitigated by the IGOM adoption as well as to ensure that the IGOM is relevant and addresses the root causes of reported ground incidents.”

The IGOM working group members also constantly review new technologies used during operations, making sure latest developments are properly reflected in the operating procedures, affirm IATA officials.

“We also initiated a discussion on how to make IGOM more interactive to ensure it can be effectively used for training and communication to front line personnel,” IATA’s spokesperson says. “However, the key focus will remain on IGOM global adoption by airlines and ISAGO GHSPs, supporting airlines and ground handlers in their IGOM gap analysis and alignment.”

As far as IGOM is concerned, it is necessary to continue to drive a consistent procedure, and avoid deviations without very clear safety reasons, thus avoiding confusion for GHSP colleagues, points out Clark.

“Swissport has always played a central role in developing standards - from SMS to training and operations, and we will continue to lead and participate in these valuable collaborations to make the industry safer and more efficient,” he says.

Future of ISAGO

IATA observes that ISAGO is evolving on a daily basis.

“The major revamp that will be launched next year, consist of changes in auditing standards, changes in audit methodology, where documentation will be assessed remotely via the OPS portal and an implementation assessment will be the primary focus on the verification of IGOM and AHM implementation specifically during station on-site audit,” says IATA’s spokesperson. “The program will need to address auditors’ knowledge of IGOM and AHM and their consistent assessment and interpretation. Additionally, GHSPs undergoing ISAGO audits will need to adopt industry training requirements as published in AHM 1110, which may be a significant change for many. Long term, we will start working on the ISAGO vision for risk-based auditing.”

ISAGO will also include ground support equipment (GSE) fleet assessment, rewarding those GHSPs that implement enhanced GSE and hence contribute to ground damage reduction, observe officials at IATA.

“Therefore, the savings potential for the entire industry is enormous. We will also drive duplicate audits’ reduction, for which we finally have many tangible data from the ISAGO member airlines and more to come,” says IATA’s spokesperson.

According to Clark, it is important for ISAGO to find a mechanism to allow large global GSHPs to be globally certified without each individual station being audited.

“This is costly and not in line with how airlines are accredited under the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) program where the HQ is audited, and samples of the operations are conducted,” he says. “Swissport has recently achieved global ISO certification in quality, occupational health and safety and environmental management after a rigorous but sample-based audit program and we believe this approach has to be the future for ISAGO.”