FAA not to conduct fresh IASA on India

Neelam Mathews Sept 7 2012

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), US had showed its concern based on the media reports in India on the current civil aviation scenario raisings doubts on the effectiveness of DGCA’s oversight of the Indian aviation industry. The FAA Flight Standard Office representative wrote to the Director General on their concerns and indicated that if it was established that the DGCA oversight had been compromised, then the necessary consultation process needed to start towards conducting an ‘International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA)’ of the DGCA by the FAA. The Director General in his detailed response, based on the actual facts, figures and the ‘Annual Surveillance Programme’ of the DGCA (which was forwarded to FAA), allayed the doubts, says the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA). A team of DGCA officials met  FAA officials in late August. “FAA was convinced that there has been no compromise on DGCA’s function of continuous oversight of the industry. FAA was fully satisfied with the DGCA’s functioning in various regulatory areas relating to safety. It has been categorically stated by FAA that there is no requirement, as of now, to start any consultation process in the direction of conducting a fresh IASA of the DGCA by the FAA. They have also reiterated that India would continue to enjoy the privileges of Category I country,” confirms MOCA