ICAO study rates Indian skies as the safest in the world
28 Mar 2007
New Delhi: If a study by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is anything to go by then Indian skies are amongst the safest in the world. The report, though interim in nature, has expectedly drawn big smiles at the ministry of civil aviation.
"It's a pleasant surprise for all of us. You must realise that Delhi and Mumbai handle more traffic than Singapore and Dubai because we have a huge domestic market," said Praful Patel, civil aviation minister.
ICAO, a UN body, supervises civil aviation across the world. The safety audit, carried out by a team of ICAO officials in October 2006, found Indian skies to be the safest, with India scoring 98.3 - the highest for any of the 155 member countries of the ICAO. This implies that India meets most of the 7700 ICAO guidelines it is required to comply with.
The audit graded countries on the frequency of safety checks, pilot proficiency and reportable accidents, among other counts.
It needs to be stressed that the ICAO report is an interim one, and before the final report comes in the Indian government will have to address key issues, such as:
- The shortage of manpower with the Indian regulator, the Director General of Civil Aviation
- Shortage of air traffic controllers
- Inadequate infrastructure like absence of parallel runways at busy airports
"We are aware of the constraints in infrastructure and we are trying our best to cope with them," said Praful Patel.
