In a development that took India by surprise, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. aviation regulatory body, announced on Friday that it had downgraded the country’s aviation safety ranking, bringing it below that of Pakistan and on a par with Ghana, Barbados and Bangladesh.
Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh termed the step “very disappointing and surprising” as India had solved 29 of the 31 issues raised by the FAA during inspections last year.
With the downgrade, Indian flights would have to go through more engineering and other safety checks in the U.S. The FAA decision means that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) does not meet the safety standards set by the U.N. agency, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
The news of the downgrade was conveyed to Director-General Prabhat Kumar. Air India and Jet Airways will now be barred from increasing the number of flights to the U.S. and will not be able to enter into any new code-sharing arrangement with any U.S. airline.
01/02/2014 Sujay Mehdudia/The Hindu
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Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh termed the step “very disappointing and surprising” as India had solved 29 of the 31 issues raised by the FAA during inspections last year.
With the downgrade, Indian flights would have to go through more engineering and other safety checks in the U.S. The FAA decision means that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) does not meet the safety standards set by the U.N. agency, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
The news of the downgrade was conveyed to Director-General Prabhat Kumar. Air India and Jet Airways will now be barred from increasing the number of flights to the U.S. and will not be able to enter into any new code-sharing arrangement with any U.S. airline.
01/02/2014 Sujay Mehdudia/The Hindu
