Aviation may be delegated to Category II, affecting expansion plans

The aviation sector — right from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to the top brass of the country’s biggest aviation companies — is desperately trying to impress the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to prevent being delegated to category II from category I. If they fail, India’s aviation sector will nosedive in these troubled times.

Sources said FAA was concerned about manpower shortage and safety oversights in domestic and international operations.
Officials of Kingfisher, Jet Airways and Air India met the FAA team at DGCA headquarters on Friday.

Earlier, DGCA officials had met the FAA team during the safety audits. A six member team of the FAA landed in New Delhi on March 16 to conduct a safety audit of the DGCA as a regulator and also rework India’s aviation ratings.

Thursday’s brainstorming session went on for three hours with airlines representatives rolling out power-point presentations on their level of preparedness for US-bound flights. The findings of the FAA team will impact India’s rating in the aviation industry worldwide. A negative rating can block US-bound flight expansion plans. This will jeopardise international operations because other countries may endorse the FAA ratings.

The FAA safety audit will be completed on Friday. “The report will be out next month,” the official said.