FAA upgrades India, flights to US likely to increase

The FAA informed the DGCA about the move in a letter to the regulator and the civil aviation ministry today: “In consideration of the FAA’s determination based on the corrective actions taken by the DGCA to date, the IASA category for India shall be immediately upgraded to Category I…”

US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx informed Civil Aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati about the upgrade by FAA. “This meeting (between Foxx and Raju) succeeded the series of meetings held by US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi….to identify areas in which partnership, technical cooperation and “Make in India” can be developed.,” the civil aviation ministry said in a statement.

Analysts add that the government need to continuously work to ensure better functioning of DGCA. “DGCA needs continuous improvement in its systems, processes, manpower, training and transparency. Its financial and operational independence has to be enhanced. It has to improve its transparency and ease of doing business with industry. The industry hopes that the Category 1 upgrade should lead to further reforms. And soon,” said Amber Dubey, partner and India head of aerospace and defense at global consultancy KPMG.

A team of officials from FAA concluded a two-day review of India’s aviation safety oversight mechanism on March 31, 2015 to review the progress on findings indicated after an audit done in December last year. Subsequently, India has now been upgraded to CAT I status.

The FAA had downgraded India to category II status in safety oversight capability in January last year on two key concerns — lack of training of its officials and lack of full-time Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs) on DGCA’s rolls.

The downgrade meant that no Indian airline could launch any additional flights to the US and the existing flights to America could be subjected to more checks which could lead to delays. While the downgrade did not mean that Indian airlines were unsafe, it showed that the FAA’s Indian counterpart — the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) — was not adequately equipped to properly monitor the safety performance of Indian carriers. The downgrade additionally barred Indian airlines from code-sharing with their American counterparts.

FAA audited eight critical areas of India’s safety oversight system between Dec 8 and 12, 2014— primary aviation legislation, specific operating regulations, state civil aviation systems and functions, qualified technical personnel and their training, technical guidance, licensing, certification, authorisation and / or approval obligations, surveillance obligations and resolution of safety issues.

The American regulator consequently indicated some findings consequently, mainly dealing with the lack of adequate number of flight operations inspectors. The DGCA has since attempted to fill all the 75 posts for FOIs at market-linked salaries.The regulator has also started maintaining records in a globally accepted manner and also updated its manuals. The regulator has also established certification process for airlines ad recertified two airlines — Air India and Jet Airways — operating to the US.