American aviation watchdog, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), maintained a Category 1 status rating for the Indian aviation industry under its International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme. This status allows a country’s airlines to operate and expand their services to US destinations and enter a codeshare agreement with American carriers.
Under IASA, FAA evaluates a country’s existing supervision framework for its airlines that operate, seek to expand to the US, or enter a codeshare agreement with the American airlines, to see if it complies with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)’s safety standards. Based on its assessment, FAA informed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Indian aviation governing body, that it meets international aviation safety standards.of the Chicago Convention and its Annexes, and shall retain FAA IASA Category 1 status, last assessed in July 2018.
This announcement comes as a relief to many Indian carriers, including Tata Group, which plans to expand its services in the Indo-US sector. Earlier this year, India scored an Effective Implementation (EI) of 85.65 per cent during the ICAO audit.
FAA downgraded India’s ratings in 2014, due to which many Indian carriers like Jet Airways and Air India faced multiple restrictions, including a ban on route expansion as long as their existing flights were subjected to additional checks, thus prolonging the turnaround time. No codeshare arrangements were allowed during that time. FAA”s five-member team had conducted various audits of safety guidelines, including the licensing of personnel and airworthiness, and highlighted around 35 issues mainly related to documentation. A DGCA team worked on corrective measures.
