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Thursday 31 July 2014

Can India regain Category I aviation safety rating from FAA?

The Indian Government is working towards regaining the country's top aviation safety rating from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). FAA, the American aviation regulator has cut India's safety rating to Category II from Category I causing embarassment for the country as well as for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). India had enjoyed the Category I rating since 1997 and the downgrade to Category II, the first for the country, places it in same category as Zimbabwe and Indonesia.

Replying to a question asked by independent member of Parliament (MP) Rajeev Chandrasekhar in Rajya Sabha, GM Siddeshwara, minister of state for civil aviation, said, the FAA downgraded India's aviation safety to Category II in January this year and his ministry is working hard to regain the earlier rating.

The FAA conducts audits of safety standards and processes in the aviation sector for different countries that fly airlines into the US. In other words, carriers from countries downgraded to Category II are barred from expanding operations in the US.

“The FAA on 31 January 2014 informed DGCA that India has been assigned Category II from Category I, which India had been holding since 1997. The Category II was assigned primarily due to the finding related to lack of sufficient number of regular Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs) resulting in DGCA's inability to have effective safety oversight,” the Minister said, pointing to the Read news in full .28/07/14 Moneylife

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