AS9110 certification for maintenance organisations whose release to service customers can trust.

What it is

What is AS9110 and what is it used for?

AS9110 is the member of the International Aerospace Quality Group's 9100 family written for maintenance. Where AS9100 addresses organisations that design and build aerospace products, AS9110 addresses the organisations that keep those products serviceable once they are in use: maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircraft, engines and components, for civil and defence customers. The IAQG describes 9110 as a quality management system standard for maintenance providers that need more than an ISO 9001 system asks for.

In practice it gives a maintenance organisation one management system around the work it already does under its authority approval: accepting the job, planning it against approved data, controlling parts and tooling, doing the work with competent people, inspecting it and releasing the product.

Current edition. AS9110 Rev C, the IAQG's 9110:2016, dated 4 November 2016 in the IAQG standards register; EN 9110:2018 and SJAC 9110 Rev B are the European and Japanese publications of the same standard. No 9110 transition is running. The IAQG's 2025 annual report records an assessment of how the planned revision of 9100 affects 9110; until a revised 9110 is issued, certification continues to Rev C and first-time implementers build to it.

Who it is for

Who needs AS9110 certification?

AS9110 fits any organisation whose product is maintenance: a line station, a hangar doing base checks, an engine or component shop, or a defence depot. If you also manufacture parts, AS9100 covers that activity; if you trade parts, AS9120 does. Maintenance organisations come to Sterling for AS9110 from four starting points:

• A customer writes it into the contract. Operators, lessors and OEMs increasingly expect a 9100-series certificate from their maintenance providers; Boeing's supplier quality requirements, for example, have a separate appendix for 9110 maintenance suppliers.
• A tender or framework requires it. Defence and government maintenance contracts often list an aerospace quality certificate among the qualification criteria.
• Your authority approval and your quality system have drifted apart. The maintenance organisation exposition satisfies the regulator, but customer complaints, repeat findings and late turnarounds are handled outside it.
• A group wants one approach across its stations. Several shops, several countries and several ways of working; the group wants one system customers can find in OASIS.

Requirements

What are the main AS9110 requirements?

AS9110 keeps the ISO 9001 structure, clauses 4 to 10, and adds requirements for maintenance organisations throughout. The summary below reads each clause the way a maintenance organisation meets it; your system is checked against the full text of the standard during the programme.

• Clause 4 Context of the organisation: define the maintenance scope, the stations and the interested parties, including customers and the aviation authorities whose requirements apply.
• Clause 5 Leadership: make management accountable for conforming, on-time maintenance and for a culture in which errors are reported rather than hidden.
• Clause 6 Planning: identify risks to airworthiness, turnaround and the business, set objectives and plan changes to the system deliberately.
• Clause 7 Support: provide facilities, calibrated tools, qualified and authorised staff, awareness of their part in safety, and controlled maintenance data and records.
• Clause 8 Operation: control the work from contract review through planning, parts and material sourcing, subcontracting, task performance, inspection and release of the maintained product.
• Clause 9 Performance evaluation: measure customer satisfaction and turnaround performance, audit the system and review it at management level.
• Clause 10 Improvement: investigate nonconformities and maintenance errors, correct their causes with human factors considered, and improve continually.

Certification process

How do you get AS9110 certified?

The system is built and operated first; then an accredited certification body working in the IAQG scheme audits it. Sterling prepares your organisation; the certification body decides.

1. 01
   Fix the scope the certificate will state.Maintenance activities and ratings, stations, headcount, customer requirements, and whether any manufacturing or distribution needs AS9100 or AS9120 alongside.
2. 02
   Gap analysis: compare the current system with AS9110.We map your exposition, procedures and records against the standard, keep what already works and agree the actions, owners and dates.
3. 03
   Implement and let the system produce records.Customer, supplier, planning and improvement controls go into daily use, people are trained, and work packages, audits and investigations start building evidence.
4. 04
   Audit internally and hold management review.Internal audit follows the maintenance processes end to end; management review decides on the results; findings are closed with evidence.
5. 05
   Complete the certification audit.Stage 1 readiness review, then Stage 2, reported under the IAQG's 9101 audit requirements; close any nonconformities, receive the body's decision and see the certificate recorded in OASIS, followed by surveillance and recertification.

Check the route before you sign. Ask which certification body will audit, whether it is accredited for the IAQG scheme and listed in OASIS, and whether its auditors are IAQG-authenticated; then check those answers in OASIS yourself. A certificate your customer cannot find there will not meet their requirement. The certification buyer's checklist

Cost

How much does AS9110 certification cost?

An AS9110 programme is priced from the shape of your operation, not from a list. Every Sterling proposal shows each component and one all-inclusive proposal.

Timeline

How long does AS9110 certification take?

Plan in months: typically six to ten for a maintenance organisation that already holds an authority approval. The time goes on customer, supplier, risk and improvement processes, and on letting them run long enough to show results.

Tell us about any contract date on day one; we will say plainly what it allows.

Your engagement

What your AS9110 engagement includes

Sterling does not certify; the accredited certification body audits your system and makes the decision. Our part is everything before and around that audit, delivered through Sterling OS™. You choose one of two support levels: Design™, where we guide and your team builds, or Drive™, where we manage and do the heavy lifting with your process owners. Sustain™ keeps the system current after certification, and Automate™ is Effivity, running the system from the first day.

• Scope, gap analysis and plan

  Built on your existing exposition, with owners and dates agreed up front.

• Procedures that fit the hangar floor

  Written with your planners, inspectors and stores staff, on Sterling's template sets.

• Effivity ISO & GRC software

  Your maintenance QMS in Effivity, included with the engagement at no additional cost.

• Training for everyone

  Internal auditor training for your audit team, as applicable to your standard, and preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.

• Internal audit and management review

  Run or facilitated as agreed, with every finding closed before Stage 1.

• Audit readiness and support

  Preparation for Stage 1 and Stage 2, and support until the certificate appears in OASIS.

Certification decisions remain with the independent certification body.

Often combined with

Standards organisations pair with AS9110

• AIAG core toolsAutomotive core tools implementation and training: APQP, Control Plan, PPAP, FMEA, MSA and SPC applied on your live parts.
• AQAP 2110AQAP 2110 compliance for defence suppliers: what the NATO contract requirement covers, AQAP 2105 quality plans, government quality assurance and an all-inclusive proposal.
• AS9100AS9100 certification consulting for aerospace and defence suppliers: ISO 9001 plus product safety, configuration and FAI, ready for an IAQG scheme audit.
• AS9120AS9120 certification for aerospace distributors and stockists: requirements, the IAQG audit route, OASIS listing, cost and timeline factors, with Sterling.
• CMMC 2.0CMMC 2.0 certification consulting for defence contractors handling FCI and CUI: controls, SPRS score and evidence ready for self or C3PAO assessment.
• EASA Part 145 / Part 21EASA Part 145 approval and Part 21 POA and DOA readiness: gap assessment, manuals, safety management, training and mock audits.