New Delhi: How serious is the lack of 59 flight operations inspectors (FOIs) in maintaining the safety of Indian aviation? This is the question that arises after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded India last week for not meeting the globally laid-down standards for aviation safety.
Taking a serious view of the downgrade, Amber Dubey, Head of Aerospace and Defence at KPMG, says it could have a “typical” domino effect with safety regulators in the European Union, Singapore, Japan and other parts of the world following suit. He adds this could affect Jet Airways’ plans to go global through Abu Dhabi and impact Air India’s entering Star Alliance, and that IndiGo and SpiceJet might not be able to expand services globally.
Taking an equally critical view on the downgrade, Kapil Kaul, CEO, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, points out that India has not been able to address the fundamental issues for over five years and has remained driven by cosmetic changes to save the downgrade threat.
India admits that it is not meeting the global average of having one flight operations inspector for every 10 aircraft.
At the moment, there are 18 operations inspectors to manage the 770 aircraft and helicopters registered in the country. For India to get back its Cat I status, which means the country has to meet all ICAO parameters, not only will the 75 inspectors need to be in place, but an FAA team will also have to come and inspect the changes.
02/02/14 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
Taking a serious view of the downgrade, Amber Dubey, Head of Aerospace and Defence at KPMG, says it could have a “typical” domino effect with safety regulators in the European Union, Singapore, Japan and other parts of the world following suit. He adds this could affect Jet Airways’ plans to go global through Abu Dhabi and impact Air India’s entering Star Alliance, and that IndiGo and SpiceJet might not be able to expand services globally.
Taking an equally critical view on the downgrade, Kapil Kaul, CEO, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, points out that India has not been able to address the fundamental issues for over five years and has remained driven by cosmetic changes to save the downgrade threat.
India admits that it is not meeting the global average of having one flight operations inspector for every 10 aircraft.
At the moment, there are 18 operations inspectors to manage the 770 aircraft and helicopters registered in the country. For India to get back its Cat I status, which means the country has to meet all ICAO parameters, not only will the 75 inspectors need to be in place, but an FAA team will also have to come and inspect the changes.
02/02/14 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line
