Sept. 09--The US aviation regulator will on Monday begin a safety oversight audit of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the second such audit of the Indian regulator by an international body in two months.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will also look into filings by Jet Airways (India) Ltd and Air India Ltd, which fly to the US.
The United Nation's International Civil Aviation Organization had after an audit of the DGCA in December clubbed India among 13 nations with the worst air safety oversight. It removed India from its blacklist only in August after a compliance audit of DGCA's mechanisms.
"We are ready for the audit and we have been working overtime and on weekends to have everything up to date," said a DGCA official, who declined to be named.
A second government official, who also asked not to be named, too said the regulator had been working most weekends for the past two months to prepare for the audits.
The FAA audits are critical because if it downgrades India on finding any irregularities, that would mean no more new flights by Indian airlines to the US and additional checks on existing flights. It will brief the DGCA of its findings on Friday.
The FAA may also audit the filings of Jet and Air India to DGCA to find out whether they match with the original documentation with the airlines, said the DGCA official quoted above.
Air India flies non-stop to Chicago and New York, while Jet flies to New York via Brussels.
A Jet Airways spokeswoman and Air India declined comment.
The ICAO had in its December report identified a "significant safety concern with respect to the ability of this state (India) to properly oversee areas" under airworthiness and operations.
The concern on airworthiness related to approval of major modifications and repairs carried out on foreign manufactured aircraft and registered in India.
The concern on operations related to the procedure for grant of air operator permits to non-scheduled operators and the flight documentation systems of scheduled airlines.
The ICAO had clubbed India with 12 other nations including Angola, Congo, Eritrea, Haiti, Kazakhstan and Lebanon as having the worst air safety oversight.
That report resulted in Japan stalling Air India's plan to start flights to Osaka and prompted the FAA to seek an independent audit, Mint reported on 21 August.
"We are in India at the request of their government," an FAA spokeswoman said. "The IASA (international aviation safety assessments) programme examines a government's civil aviation regulatory authority."
India has been subjected to stern audits over past five years as its aviation industry has grown manifold in a decade the DGCA has not been overhauled to meet new requirements.
Its staff remained lowly paid for the technicality required for the job and the number of staff required to oversee airlines and charters has shrunk as many qualified people retired or took jobs with private companies.
The government recently introduced a draft law in Parliament to set up a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as an autonomous regulator that would replace the DGCA.
But while a Bill for setting up Rajiv Gandhi Aviation University in Raebareli has been passed, the CAA Bill has been sent to a standing committee, aviation minister Ajit Singh informed the Lok Sabha on Friday. This could mean more delay in setting up the CAA. Both the Bills had been introduced in Parliament for debate and approving as law last month.
An expert said the FAA will look more closely into the filings by Jet Airways and Air India as its focus is on the safety of American nationals.
"After the Asiana crash, I doubt if FAA will ignore safety violations that stare in the face. Americans travel by air to several airfields in India which are positively unsafe and which do not conform to Icao standards," said Mohan Ranganathan, aviation analyst and member of the government-appointed Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council.
Asiana airlines flight 214 crashed at San Francisco International airport earlier this year, killing three people on a Boeing 777 aircraft.
There have indeed been some concerns raised on oversight, according to John Goglia, an aviation science professor and former member of the US National Transportation Safety Board.
"Safety of flights in India has received many negative comments in the press, including pilot qualifications and oversight by the Indian government," Goglia said. "This has certainly raised concerns in the international aviation community. The ICAO audit could well influence the FAA."
Copyright 2013 - Mint, New Delhi
