AS9100 Aerospace Quality Management Consultancy

Getting AS9100 right requires more than a working knowledge of ISO 9001. The additional requirements reflect hard-won lessons about product safety, traceability and the consequences of failure in flight-critical and mission-critical hardware. Hillscom brings direct senior quality leadership experience from inside aerospace and defence organisations, including delivering AS9100 certification from the ground up.

What AS9100 adds to ISO 9001

The current version is AS9100D (EN 9100:2018 in Europe). Alongside the full ISO 9001 requirements, it includes aerospace-specific requirements such as:

Product safety. Planning, implementing and controlling processes to assure product safety throughout the product life cycle, including awareness of each person’s contribution to it.

Counterfeit parts prevention. Processes to prevent counterfeit or suspect counterfeit parts entering the product, covering sourcing, verification, quarantine and reporting.

Configuration management. Controlling the identification and changes to product configuration throughout its life.

Operational risk management. Planning and managing risks to the achievement of product and service requirements in operations.

First article inspection. Verifying that production processes, documentation and tooling can produce parts that meet requirements, typically in line with AS9102.

Special requirements, critical items and key characteristics. Identifying and controlling items and features that need particular attention.

On-time delivery and customer satisfaction. Measuring and improving delivery and quality performance, with the data customers expect to see.

Human factors. Recognising the role of human factors in nonconformities and corrective action.

AS9100 is becoming IA9100

The IAQG is revising the 9100 series, and the next edition will be published as IA9100, bringing AS9100, EN 9100 and JIS Q 9100 under one international name. The revision is aligned with ISO 9001:2026 and is expected to strengthen requirements in areas such as product safety, counterfeit parts, sub-tier supplier control and information security.

AS9100D remains the current, certifiable standard. The IAQG has not yet confirmed the publication date or transition period, so certificates stay valid and nothing changes until transition arrangements are announced. Building your system with the ISO 9001:2026 changes and the signalled IA9100 themes in mind now will make the move far easier.

Read our full guide: AS9100 to IA9100, what UK aerospace suppliers need to know

How Hillscom supports AS9100

First-time certification. For suppliers entering aerospace and defence, or upgrading from ISO 9001, the work covers every aerospace-specific requirement alongside the core quality system, built around your products, processes and customer requirements.

Customer and flow-down requirements. Aerospace customers often add their own supplier quality requirements on top of AS9100. Understanding and embedding these properly is essential to staying approved.

Audit readiness and remediation. Preparing for certification and surveillance audits, and closing out findings with root cause analysis and corrective action that prevents recurrence.

Interim quality leadership. Where an organisation needs experienced quality leadership during a period of change, interim support can provide it at head of quality or quality director level.

Related standards include AS9145 for advanced product quality planning, which many aerospace customers now flow down to their suppliers.

Aerospace experience, not just standard knowledge

Hillscom has held senior quality and mission assurance roles in aerospace and defence. That means understanding the customer relationships, audit expectations and programme pressures that sit behind the standard, as well as the clauses themselves.

Get in touch to discuss AS9100 certification or audit readiness.