New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry’s plan to approach the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in June for restoring the country's air safety rating to category 1 could get delayed by a few months.
This is because the domestic regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), is behind its schedule of completing the hiring of 75 Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs), a primary requirement for the upgrade. In fact, over 50% of the 613 sanctioned posts for technical staff at the regulator are still vacant.
A civil aviation ministry official told FE that a review meeting on the hiring of FOIs by the DGCA was held on Tuesday, and that the hiring of all 75 is likely to be done by May-end. In the first lot, DGCA has already hired 29 Senior FOIs and FOIs of the planned 75, while it has also received a further set of applications for the second lot of FOIs.
“Unless we feel we are completely ready and have our preparedness verified by another agency, we cannot go to the FAA seeking a fresh audit. We will take a call by month-end depending on where we stand on the hiring. The delays are happening both because it is tough to find the qualified people and also it takes time for them to finish their notice period at the current job and join the DGCA,” the official said.
21/05/14 Finacial Express
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This is because the domestic regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), is behind its schedule of completing the hiring of 75 Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs), a primary requirement for the upgrade. In fact, over 50% of the 613 sanctioned posts for technical staff at the regulator are still vacant.
A civil aviation ministry official told FE that a review meeting on the hiring of FOIs by the DGCA was held on Tuesday, and that the hiring of all 75 is likely to be done by May-end. In the first lot, DGCA has already hired 29 Senior FOIs and FOIs of the planned 75, while it has also received a further set of applications for the second lot of FOIs.
“Unless we feel we are completely ready and have our preparedness verified by another agency, we cannot go to the FAA seeking a fresh audit. We will take a call by month-end depending on where we stand on the hiring. The delays are happening both because it is tough to find the qualified people and also it takes time for them to finish their notice period at the current job and join the DGCA,” the official said.
21/05/14 Finacial Express
