India escapes downgrade by the FAA

24 Sep 2009

1

New Delhi: India has narrowly averted considerable international embarrassment with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) deciding against downgrading the country's aviation safety standards.  Earlier this year, an FAA audit showed up alarming deficiencies in the local regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) safety and maintenance standards, resulting in India being put on a short notice of five months to turn matters around or face a substantial downgrade.

The downgrade would have meant no new flights by Indian airlines to America and strict checks for all planes arriving in the United States.

The drastic fall in safety standards has come with the civil aviation ministry letting matters slip over the years and neglecting matters related to the DGCA, the agency responsible for safe flying in the country.

This despite the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) pointing out major deficiencies in 2006 and the aviation sector in the country growing by leaps and bounds.  It took a number of years before an IAS officer was finally installed as DGCA chief, in the process superceding qualified technical DGCA staff.

In a desperate attempt to make up for lost time, after the internecine warfare for the DGCA post, almost 600 technical posts were sanctioned in the space of the last five months to implement DGCA standards for safety and maintenance.

FAA clearance will now allow Indian carriers to expand service in the US by adding flights and through new access points. It will also allow them to enter into code share agreements with US carriers.

The FAA currently reviewed the safety status of 40-odd countries and has, according to reports, downgraded all of them, including Israel. All these countries failed to put in place a system within the given short timeframe.

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