US and India to sign aviation cooperation agreement

Washington: Marion Blakey, Administrator of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), left Friday for India, where she is due to sign an aviation cooperation agreement in the coming week.

Blakey said the agreement she expects to sign Monday in India would be only the second such pact the United States has with another country. The other country is China. "This will be very much a two-way street," she said.

Blakey said that India would benefit from expert US advice on aviation regulation and facilities, while the United States would get to learn from India's rapid installation of new technology, like satellite-based aircraft monitoring.

Blakey told reporters in a teleconference on Friday that it was important for the FAA to make such contacts to ensure smooth interaction with two rapidly growing aviation markets.

After three days in India, Blakey is due to travel to Dubai for talks with aviation officials and air carriers.

She pointed out that India has seen passenger growth of 25 per cent a year recently, while the Persian Gulf region had posted double-digit passenger growth in 41 of the past 43 months.