DGCA seeks US and European civil aviation expertise
for its revamp
26 January 2007
New
Delhi: Faced with exponential growth in the
aviation sector, the government is planning to
strengthen and restructure the Directorate General
of Civil Aviation (DGCA), to enable it to handle
increased responsibilities.
According to civil
aviation ministry sources, the DGCA would be restructured
along the lines of the US regulator Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation
Safety Agency (EASA). A recent understanding with
the US will allow the for DGCA to benefit from
FAA's extensive knowledge and experience. A similar
understanding is now being sought to be put into
place with the European Union. In line with these
agreements, both the international aviation regulatory
institutions are expected to help the government
in its restructuring efforts.
Government civil aviation
authorities point out that with the launch of
private airlines, their work load has increased
ten-fold over the past decade. This has led to
an acute shortage of manpower in various areas,
such as airworthiness certification, air safety,
and the R&D department, as an increase in
their workforce has not kept pace with this growth.
As a pointer to this phenomenon, they point to
the observations made by the Kaw committee, instituted
last year to assist in restructuring DGCA.
The committee observed
that while the number of aircraft operating in
India had increased to 668 in March 2006, from
219, in 1991, staff strength of the DGCA had actually
declined to 122 in 2006 from 133 in 1991.
Also,
as part of the overall sprucing up of the government
machinery, the civil aviation ministry is pushing
for the setting up of the Airport Economic Regulatory
Authority, which will mainly regulate airports,
even as the DGCA continues to regulate all other
functions.
Other
reports on Aviation
|