U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has degraded India's aviation safety rating to Category 2 ...
U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has degraded India's aviation safety rating to Category 2 under its International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program, based on a recent reassessment.
Airlines that fly to the United States must adhere to the safety standards of ICAO, the United Nations’ technical agency for aviation that establishes international standards and recommended practices for aircraft operations and maintenance. With a Category 2 rating, Indian carriers can continue existing services to the United States, but will not be allowed to establish new services.
State-run Air India and Jet Airways are the only two carriers that fly to the United States from India, and would be hit by the downgrade. Air India and Jet operates 21 and 7 weekly flights respectively between India and the United States.
FAA's foreign assessment program focuses on a country's ability, not the individual air carrier, to adhere to international standards. FAA audit in September 2013, pointed out 31 findings out of which 29 findings were completely addressed by the India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The rest two, which involved creation and recruitment of posts in FSD and training of Airworthiness Officers for different kind of planes owned by non-scheduled operators, were only partially completed with the creation of these posts and scheduling and commencement of training for five groups of aircraft and helicopters (turboprop aeroplane, jet engine aeroplane, piston engine aeroplane, piston engine helicopters and turbine engine helicopter) operated by non-scheduled operators.
On Jan 29, Government in hast, approved creation of 75 posts in Flight Standards Directorate (FSD) in the DGCA comprising of Chief Flight Operation Inspector (CFOI), Deputy Chief Flight Operation Inspectors (Dy.CFOIs), Senior Flight Operation Inspectors (Senior FOIs) and Flight Operation Inspectors (FOIs) meant for both, aircraft and helicopter operations to evade the downgradation. India achieved Category 1 in August 1997.
Some senior officials of Air India felt, FAA's move was an underhand effort to stop Air India's expansion to the US and was purely driven by commercial reasons.
