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After a restoration in safety ratings by the US aviation watchdog, our Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) now has an uphill task to convince a United Nations’ body in this regard.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the UN body tasked with aviation standards globally, will visit India in November to audit the DGCA, with a wider lens than the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) did. This will be the third time — after 2006 and 2012 — the international regulator will visit India for an assessment.
“The audit of our civil aviation sector is not ending with the FAA one. Next month, we have to explain to EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) how we will be able to sustain our Category-I position in the days to come. In November, we have another audit by ICAO which will be a very comprehensive,” said
M Sathiyavathy, director-general of DGCA, at an event here on Friday.
The Indian authorities will visit the EASA next month, to brief them on the steps DGCA plans to maintain a Category-I ranking (which certifies India of being compliant with global safety norms).
“We had sent a team to Brussels last year, after the FAA downgrade, to explain about the steps being taken to ensure that safety is not compromised. Now, after the FAA upgrade, they have asked us to explain the steps taken and how is it going to be sustained,” she said.
The FAA upgrade early this month was a major boost for the aviation sector. It allowed Indian carriers to enhance their fleet plying to the US, along with getting rid of heightened FAA surveillance after 14 months.
Background
Sathiyavathy said the ICAO audit will be based on parameters such as aerodrome operations, air traffic control, airports and air navigations. An ICAO downgrade will not have a direct impact on Indian airlines and the regulator but could raise alarm bells among other aviation authorities. For instance, an ICAO audit of the DGCA in December 2012, which had put India in its list of 13 worst-performing nations, had prompted FAA to conduct its own assessment of India’s compliance with ICAO standards, under its International Aviation Safety Assessments programme. After finding several deficiencies, the FAA, in January 2014, had downgraded India’s safety oversight to category-II, implying it did not meet the minimum ICAO standards.
In its 2006 audit, ICAO had highlighted 70 findings and recommendations related to lack of organisational structure in DGCA, shortage of trained personnel and an effective mechanism for resolution of safety concerns for passengers. According to sources, DGCA was supposed to work on 11 key areas of aviation safety, mainly related to air navigation services (ANS). In the ICAO 2013 Safety Report, India was below the global average in two areas – organisation and ANS.
As per ICAO 2013 Safety Report, India stands below global average in two areas - organisation and air navigation services.
The government is hopeful that the rankings in 'organisation' will improve after the regulator recruits flight operations inspects (FIOs). The DGCA had created 75 posts for hiring FIOs and has been able to hire around 55 till date. "We intend to recruit a few more," said Sathiyavathy.
Further, the government is in the final stages of preparing a Bill to hive off the ANS department from the Airports Authority of India (AAI). This is necessary to avoid any conflict of interest situation which is in line with ICAO recommendations.
The DGCA is also taking necessary steps of re-certifying airlines to ensure they meet all the prescribed safety and security norms. "We took up Air India and Jet Airways on a priority basis as they fly to the United States. Then we took up Vistara, Air Pegasus and Air Costa (the two regional carriers operating out of the southern region). Other scheduled airlines are being taken up now," she said.
The re-certification of the airlines will be completed by the middle of this year and that of 35 flying training institutes will end by the end of this year.
