This refers to the report "US cuts India's air safety rating" (February 1). The US Federal Aviation Administration's decision to downgrade India's safety ranking from Category I to Category II is a matter of great concern for the country's booming civil aviation sector. This points to the fact that India lacks the necessary regulations to meet minimum international air safety standards, the deficiency in technical standards or the lack of trained manpower.
In the last decade, our aviation sector has seen a boom, but we have paid little attention to air safety. One of the reasons is that we have focussed more on developing large, modern and high-tech airports. We have not invested in developing and training human resources. We find a big shortage of air traffic controllers; many pilots have left Indian carriers for greener pastures because of low salaries and the inadequacy of modern training by Indian airline operators.
It is high time the government appoints a strong chief for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to oversee air safety, invest heavily in human resources to provide better training, recruit more professional and technical staff and carry out a comprehensive air safety audit of the entire sector. This would give some much-needed confidence to passengers and the global aviation industry.
Ramesh G Jethwani Bangalore
Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:
The Editor, Business Standard
Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi 110 002
Fax: (011) 23720201
E-mail: letters@bsmail.in
All letters must have a postal address and telephone number
In the last decade, our aviation sector has seen a boom, but we have paid little attention to air safety. One of the reasons is that we have focussed more on developing large, modern and high-tech airports. We have not invested in developing and training human resources. We find a big shortage of air traffic controllers; many pilots have left Indian carriers for greener pastures because of low salaries and the inadequacy of modern training by Indian airline operators.
It is high time the government appoints a strong chief for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to oversee air safety, invest heavily in human resources to provide better training, recruit more professional and technical staff and carry out a comprehensive air safety audit of the entire sector. This would give some much-needed confidence to passengers and the global aviation industry.
Ramesh G Jethwani Bangalore
Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:
The Editor, Business Standard
Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi 110 002
Fax: (011) 23720201
E-mail: letters@bsmail.in
All letters must have a postal address and telephone number