US downgrades India’s aerospace regulations

Expressing “disappointment” over the move, civil aviation minister Ajit Singh accepted that India has been downgraded as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was unable to meet two key FAA requirements. Singh said that the FAA audits held in September and December had raised 31 concerns of which 29 have been completely resolved. The two issues that are yet to be sorted include the availability of full-time flight operation inspectors and training of DGCA employees on all types of aircraft operated in the country. “India has started work on hiring more trainers with the Cabinet giving permission for recruitment of 75 more personnel. We will complete the process by March. The FAA has taken the step even as work is in progress and their report is based on an old (December-end) data,” Singh said.

The DGCA hopes to finish the recruitment, which will be the largest ever such exercise by the organisation, by the end of March this year. Officials said they will work with the FAA to get back the Category I status but did not offer any indication of the time it would need to climb back. “We will advertise the post for flight inspectors next week and complete all recruitment by March-end. We will invite them for audits as soon as we are through with the two issues that are left,” said a senior DGCA official.

Air India and Jet Airways are the two Indian carriers, which operate 28 weekly flights to the US. Of these 21 are by Air India and 7 by Jet. Neither Air India nor Jet wanted to comment on the development. No other airline has any immediate plan to fly to the US. A downgrade to Category II implies that the aviation authorities of the countries concerned do not meet the safety guidelines stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. The downgrade, however, does not mean that the airlines of these countries are unsafe but show that the DGCA’s safety oversight may not be enough to properly monitor safety performance of Indian carriers.

In a respite for Air India, this downgrade does not impact its entry into Star Alliance. “This safety assessment is a matter for the respective governments and aviation authorities. The downgrade has no direct impact on the integration of Air India into Star Alliance, which is proceeding as planned,” said an email reply from Star Alliance.