ICAO Audit confirms New Zealand’s sound aviation safety system

The Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAA) welcomes the findings of the 2025 International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP), which confirm that New Zealand has a sound and effective aviation safety system, with no significant safety issues identified.

The audit assessed New Zealand’s performance against ICAO’s global aviation safety framework, and provided an Effective Implementation (EI) score. The score is based on how effectively a country has implemented legislation and regulations, policies, technical systems, processes and capabilities according to ICAO standards. 

New Zealand’s new EI score is 70.05%.

While this score is lower than our previous audit, ICAO emphasised that the result does not indicate unsafe conditions. Instead, the result reflects ICAO’s more systematic, repeatable, and harmonised methodology, which has been designed for continuous global improvement and consistency. 

The EI score provides a snapshot in time of current processes, standards and practices, and we are working on a multi-year plan to improve on these findings. We can request ICAO to follow-up to check our progress and a new EI score may be given to reflect those improvements.

New Zealand’s aviation system had last been audited  in 2006 (full audit) and in 2016 (limited to one area due to the Kaikoura Earthquakes) and the audit scrutiny by ICAO has since increased. 

We are pleased that New Zealand remains a safe and secure place to fly, and we have begun work on several of ICAO’s recommendations. 

CAA Deputy Chief Executive John Kay said the audit provides a constructive pathway for improving our system maturity, “The ICAO audit provides valuable insights into how we can continue to strengthen our system. ICAO has confirmed that New Zealand’s aviation safety system is robust and effective, and we welcome their recommendations for further enhancement. 

Continuous improvement is a hallmark of a strong regulator, and we are committed to maintaining New Zealand’s standing as a safe and trusted aviation nation.”

ICAO identified several areas for further improvement, including:

• Increasing our alignment with international standards and improving processes that support practical implementation
• Increasing our resources to enable New Zealand to meet its national and international obligations
• Enhancing internal operational policies, procedures, and guidance to enable our staff to carry out their functions and responsibilities effectively
• Adjusting our risk-based surveillance programmes to ensure that the oversight of all significant aspects is conducted at a defined frequency
• Strengthening our existing training programmes to ensure all initial, recurrent, specialised, and on-the-job training is defined and implemented.

CAA is working closely with government and the aviation sector to respond to ICAO’s findings and further strengthen aviation safety oversight in New Zealand.

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Media contact

CAA Media Team

0508 763 222 | media@caa.govt.nz