India’s embarrassing downgrade by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been revoked, said an official.
This comes in the backdrop of a three-member team visiting Brussels in the first week of November for a meeting with officials of the EU Air Safety Committee to discuss measures taken by the Indian aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), to improve its performance after the FAA downgrade.
Finding regulatory oversight to be inadequate, the FAA had downgraded India from Category 1 to Category 2 under its International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme on January 31 earlier this year. The move has barred Air India and Jet Airways — the only two Indian airlines that operate to the US — from expanding their operations in the US and impacted codeshare arrangements with their American counterparts.
The DGCA needed to recruit 20 officials – chief flight operations inspectors (CFOI) — to deal with the staff shortage pertaining to Air India and Jet Airways. To improve it’s overall safety record, however, it needed to recruit 75 CFOIs.
While operations by Indian air carriers to and from EU are closely monitored through their Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft programme (SAFA), the FAA’s downgrade essentially meant that the DGCA was below par in meeting standards in technical expertise, trained manpower and maintenance records of air safety. It did not have skilled technical staff in the organisation.
“The FAA downgrade has a cascading effect, and the EU had raised concerns over the downgrade and the measures taken by the DGCA to better its performance. A DGCA team headed by Joint Director General Lalit Gupta will visit Brussels in the first week of November for a meeting with officials of the EU Air Safety Committee to discuss the measures taken,” an official said.
A Category 2 rating by the FAA has made India one of the 16 countries out of a total of 88 that have been assessed under IASA; the 16 include Bangladesh, Ghana, Indonesia, the Philippines and Nicaragua.
Govt to strengthen aviation security, increase manpower at BCAS
On Tuesday, government revealed that it is in the process of hiring more personnel to strengthen civil aviation security in view of increased threat perception and rising untoward incidents globally.
This proposal to ramp up manpower at the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the nodal security agency for the civil aviation sector, came at a time when carriers are expanding their fleet to meet rising passenger traffic.
Acknowledging that BCAS is “badly understaffed” and has constraints in carrying out its functions, Civil Aviation Secretary V Somasundaran said there is a proposal to increase head count at the security agency.
“It (BCAS) is badly understaffed. There is a proposal to increase the manpower,” he said at a function to mark the 28th anniversary of BCAS.
Noting that the agency’s responsibilities are increasing in the wake of rise in both passenger and cargo traffic, Somasundaran said, “Fifteen new airports are expected to come up in the next two to four years. Also, passenger traffic has shown healthy growth in the last one to one-and-a-half years.”
He said that civil aviation security is a critical issues, especially since the country has porous borders, and also referred to a recent incident at the Mumbai airport where a passenger jumped out of an aircraft after landing.
Citing the daily reports provided by CISF, Somasundaran said there are “several problem areas” in respect to security.
CISF looks after security at over 55 airports.
Speaking on the occasion, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said internal and external security angles have to be addressed to achieve a foolproof safety for fliers and aircraft. “We have managed to get an impression that Indian skies are relatively safe,” he said, lauding the role of BCAS in this regard.
However, threat can come from anywhere and the security policy should be one stop ahead of a criminal mind, he said.
The minister stressed that security measures should be meaningful without obstructing economic activities as growth in civil aviation sector has a direct impact on the economic growth of the country.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said security is a matter of real concern. The government is working on efforts to strengthen the facilities available for BCAS and the agency would also have a “R&D (Research and Development) facility,” he said.
“The lessons derived from accidents and experiences make it necessary for a formation like BCAS to have an integral R&D wing,” Sharma said.
BCAS should focus on upgradation of security measures in compliance with international standards while strengthening preparedness for any eventuality at airports, he said.
“Presence of mind and competence to take on-the-spot decisions should be the essential component of any security measures,” he added.
Joint Commissioner of Security (Civil Aviation) at BCAS B B Dash said nothing is foolproof as far as security is concerned, regardless of technology and strength of manpower.
According to BCAS, last year it carried out 166 audits and inspections, 75 anti-hijack mock exercises and 333 surprise checks. Besides, it also arranged for Aviation Security (AVSEC) training of 24,803 persons.
Recently, all national documents have been revised and brought in line with the latest regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
With PTI Inputs
First Published on April 8, 2015 11:35 am
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