NEW DELHI, Nov 24:
Threat of a downgrade looms large over DGCA as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is scheduled to carry out a second safety audit next month, with the Indian aviation regulator rushing through a series of corrective measures pointed out by its US counterpart.
Two months after their first audit in which it raised several safety concerns, an FAA team would again hold talks with their counterparts from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on December 11, official sources said here.
Weeks after a safety audit of the DGCA by the UN-body International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a four-member FAA team had in September carried out their first audit and raised concerns over 33 specific issues.
These 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 this year 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 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.
However, the sources discounted the possibility of such a downgrade, saying the corrective measures, like filling up of senior-level vacancies, being undertaken by India would be the crux of discussions with FAA.
Terming the upcoming talks in December as a “very pragmatic, problem-solving approach”, they said “in September, the FAA had made certain observations. It wanted some corrective action taken on wide-body operations and training issues. Consultations have to be carried out on these two issues as per ICAO norms.”
A downgrade from the present Category I to, probably Category II, would imply that Air India and Jet Airways, which currently fly to the US, would be allowed to operate the existing flight schedules but not enhance them or enter into any further code share arrangements with any American carrier.
Supervision on air traffic and the activity of Indian airlines in the US would also be increased.
The sources said a downgrade does not mean that Air India and Jet were unsafe as it does not say anything on any individual airline’s safety practices. It says that the government’s safety oversight may not be enough to properly monitor individual airline safety performance.
A downgrade would, however, impact Air India in particular as it was considering expanding flights to North America, apart from other regions, with its newly-acquired Boeing 787 Dreamliners as part of its turnaround plan.
The FAA, which has over the years downgraded several nations including close ally Israel, Mexico, Venezuela and Philippines, uses the ‘downgrade’ as more of a tool to put pressure on countries to shape up their regulatory schemes and not as a warning of imminent safety problems, sources said.
The US aviation regulator’s International Aviation Safety Assessments (IASA) programme focuses on individual countries and has nothing to do with specific airlines.
The FAA had said the programme “focuses on a country’s ability, not the individual air carrier, to adhere to international standards and recommended practices for aircraft operations and maintenance established by the United Nation’s technical agency for aviation, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).” (PTI)
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