US FAA team to visit India to review air safety rating cut

NEW DELHI: A US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) team will be in India in the first week of December to review the downgrade of India’s aviation safety rating, according to an aviation ministry official.

On January 31, the FAA downgraded India’s aviation safety rating, citing a lack of aviation safety oversight. India was put in Category 2 list by the FAA, joining the ranks of Ghana, Bangladesh and ranked below Pakistan. Since then, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has worked overtime to present India’s case for a review. A DGCA team recently went to the US to meet senior FAA officials and briefed them on the work done by the authority after the downgrade.

Category 1 status would enable Indian carriers to increase flights to the US and improve the image of the country as being compliant with safety standards.