Aviation: US to keep highest safety rating for India

US aviation watchdog, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has completed the audit of India’s aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Sources said that the FAA team was satisfied with the work and changes in regulations by India and is likely to maintain a Category 1 status rating under its International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme. A continuation of the highest standard by the FAA will be a relief for Indian airlines, especially the Tata group, which intends to increase Air India flights on the India-us routes.

In 2014, when the FAA had downgraded India’s safety ratings, airlines like Air India and Jet Airways faced multiple restrictions, including a bar on expanding flights, while their existing flights were subjected to additional checks, thus increasing the turnaround time. The airlines were also not allowed to have any commercial tie ups like code-sharing arrangements with US airlines.

“India did not get any adverse observations. On the contrary, 90 per cent of the subjects that were covered by the American watchdog, received appreciation. FAA also took note of the regulatory and manual reforms carried out by the DGCA and endorsed them. In a few cases, FAA noted that it was a work in progress and was likely to be completed soon,” said a senior DGCA official

A five-member team of FAA had audited India’s safety guidelines, including the licensing of personnel and airworthiness, during their visit in October last year. The FAA team did flag off around 35 issues, mainly related to documentation procedures followed by DGCA. Over the last few months, a team of DGCA worked on the deficiencies and took corrective measures, according to FAA findings. The audit is focused on areas such as aircraft airworthiness, flight operations and personnel among others.