What is AS9000?

The AS9000 or Aerospace Basic Quality System Standard was developed and issued by a group of US aerospace contractors and the Society of Automotive Engineers. The AS9000 was based on ISO 9000 standard and had 27 additional requirements that addressed relevant aspects of products or services involved in the aerospace industry. The ISO 9000 is a set of standards for organizations to create quality management systems that can ensure the quality of products or services meet customer safety requirements and satisfaction.

The need to create the AS9000 standards arose since ISO 9000 was unable to address the more complex issues faced by the aerospace industry especially about safety, risk management and time-bound delivery of products or services. Since the aerospace industry is capital and resource-intensive with very few big players, the approach offered by ISO 9000 was too limited to ensure quality of aerospace products. AS9000 was the first attempt to bring a proper structure and some uniformity in business across the aerospace industry.

Note: The AS9000 is now replaced by the AS9100 Standard.