Neelam Mathews
Nov 19, 2013
As the dates draw nearer for the FAA to follow up on its International Aviation Safety Assessment Program (IASA) on India’s Directorate General
of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on 33 areas of compliance pointed out in its September audit, we
are hearing the present DGCA Arun Mishra will be leaving his position on Dec
31, this year as Mamata Banerjee has not approved his extension and wants him
back in her state. AerospaceDiary could not confirm this.
Nov 19, 2013
If
this were to happen, moving forward, this will be a big blow to the many initiatives introduced and in planning stage at the DGCA.
Apparently, FAA
is not buying what the Indians hoped would have helped them cross the murky
waters of compliance following Mishra’s stint and experience at ICAO. If FAA gives DGCA a Cat 2 rating, air carriers from India
cannot initiate new service and are restricted to current levels of any
existing service to the US while corrective actions are underway. FAA does not
support reciprocal code-share arrangements between air carriers for the
assessed state and U.S. carriers when the DGCA has been rated Category 2. So
what happen then to the Jet Airways- Etihad code share to the US then, we ask?
During this time, Indian air carriers serving the US are subject to additional
inspections at U.S. airports.
It is likely, the reshuffle will also result in the moving of Air India
Chairman Rohit Nandan with the likely candidate Prabhat Kumar,who will replace
him.
It's very interesting to see how you can get trapped in your politically driven solution processes avoiding clear and sustainable decisions to improve the situation in India's aviation environment.
ReplyDeleteExternal pressure from FAA or ICAO is necessary to get at least a reaction of the relevant decision makers to keep damage to the aviation industry at an moderate level. As long as India remains in this reactive mode no real improvements are possible and the state controlled DGCA as rulemaker and quality control as well as the state owned carrier Air India will stagger and waste taxpayer' money.
Additionally what kind of picture is India drawing and presenting to the outside world and the aviation community ? So what is India waiting for ? The rest of the world is not waiting until India gets ready.
It's time to wake up and make a change before you get run over by fast growing Airlines close to you as at the end of the day the market will decide if Indian Aviation industry will play a role in the international aviation environment..
The JetAirways-Etihad deal is NOT an Indian decision, it's part of a strategy and clear plan of a future global player putting its footprint into the Indian market !!
So let's see what happens next.