New Delhi: India's aviation safety ranking was Wednesday upgraded to Category-1 by US aviation watchdog Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), a move that could pave the way for domestic airlines to expand their services to that country.
The upgradation, which saw restoration of the safety ranking, came more than 14 months after it was downgraded to Category-2 following the failure of aviation regulator DGCA to meet the international safety norms during two safety audits by FAA.
Announcing the upgrade here today after a meeting with Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Ganapathi Raju, US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said that India has "worked hard" to get back the status.
"I enjoyed a very productive series of meetings with Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju. I want to congratulate India on achieving Category-1 status in their civil aviation system," Foxx told reporters after the meeting.
"This is a big news because India has worked very hard over the last one year to achieve that status," he said.
US encourages India to continue sustaining that status, Foxx said.
FAA had downgraded India's aviation safety ranking, bringing it below Pakistan and on par with countries like Ghana, Barbados and Bangladesh in January last year after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation failed to meet the safety standards set by the UN body International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
"We are happy about restoration of status. It speaks well about our aviation safety and security and that we have come up to ICAO standards. It generates opportunities for our airlines and we hope they will harness them," Raju said.
He said DGCA now needs to continuously work to maintain and keep those standards.
Raju said that India's global air connectivity had got affected due to the safety downgrade, adding that India "should have a safety record and should be security conscious."
Asked about any request from Indian Airlines to expand in the US market, Raju said "now it will make sense if they start asking."
He said that India had met many parameters to achieve back the upgrade and that one of the basic areas of concern was the deployment of flight operations instructors, which has now been taken care of.
"We hope we will retain it and we have to work hard to do maintain it," he said.
According to release, a Category 1 rating means that the country's civil aviation authority complies with ICAO standards and permits India's air carriers to add flights to the United States using their own aircraft and carry the code of U.S carriers on their operations.
Foxx, according to a release issued by the US Embassy here, said "U.S and Indian aviation officials have an important, cooperative working relationship."
"The United States government commends the government of India for taking corrective action to address the safety oversight issues identified during the IASA process," the release said.
The upgradation came after the FAA held a series of review meeting with DGCA between December last year and March this year under its International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme.
Under Category 2, the United States continued to work with India's DGCA while India's air carriers continued existing service to the United States.
However, they were not allowed to launch new flights to the United States using their own aircraft.
Margaret Gilligan, Associate Administrator for FAA, in a communication to DGCA head M Sathiyavathi informed her about the decision to restore Category-1 status to India.
In the letter, Gilligan said "I am pleased to advice you the hard work undertaken and completed by your government on its safety oversight system resulted in a positive findings during our recent discussions.
"We, therefore, determine that India now meets the requirement under the international oversight standards of the Chicago Convention and the annexes thereto."
"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," it said.
Appreciating India's efforts, FAA said "DGCA has demonstrated the commitment to developing effective safety oversight of India's airline industry. We look forward to working with you in future to sustain these important changes."
Terming the upgrade as a "positive development", Sydney-based aviation think-tank Centre for Pacific Aviation (CAPA) said the move would help both Air India and Jet Airways launch new air services in the US market as well as in codeshare agreement with the airlines there.
"CAPA sees this as positive for Jet Airways as their US operations will be executed more aggressively. Both Air India and Jet Airways can now pursue more codeshare agreements with US airlines," CAPA India chief executive Kapil Kaul said in a statement.
Kaul, however, said that CAPA does not see national carrier increasing direct operations to the US in the near term.
"However, India's safety oversight regime needs a fundamental restructuring as growth will bring in more challenges and our under-preparedness might become visible again if long-term strategic correction is not initiated. The first step will be to have a technical-professional head of DGCA. Without this, a real change will not be possible," he said.
Commenting on the developments, Partner and India head of aerospace and defence at global consultancy firm KPMG, Amber Dubey said "given the huge growth expected in Indian aviation sector and the safety challenges thereof, we can't afford to be complacent. DGCA needs continuous improvement in its systems, processes, manpower, training and transparency."
DGCA's financial and operational independence has to be enhanced and it has to improve its transparency and ease of doing business with the industry, he said.
The industry hopes that the Category 1 upgrade should lead to further reforms at the earliest, he added.
