With the threat of a safety downgrade by US aviation regulator FAA looming large, Civil Aviation Ministry officials today exuded confidence that such an eventuality was not likely to arise as corrective measures have already been initiated by the DGCA.
The officials expressed confidence as a technical team of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began the second round of safety compliance audit of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to check whether corrective steps have been taken to resolve 33 deficiencies the US agency had pointed out during the first round in September.
FAA's first round of audit had followed a similar exercise by the UN-body International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
Among the areas of concern raised by FAA included existence of large number of vacancies in top technical posts like those of Joint Directors General and Deputy Directors General, at a time when air traffic in India was growing at a rapid pace. DGCA had 421 employees till July as against a sanctioned staff strength of 574.
FAA had also adversely commented on the conduct of the regular training programmes, including those for pilots, engineers and cabin crew, besides lack of manuals and documentation on certain important safety issues.
After a real-time audit at some airports, the FAA had noted certain faults in the implementation of safety norms by a couple of airlines and non-scheduled operators.
Ministry officials said they would try to ensure that a downgrade does not happen as they listed a series of measures taken by the DGCA already, like filling up of senior-level vacancies and amending civil aviation rules and regulations to strengthen safety.
