Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Obama visit likely to see FAA revoking downgrade

US President Barack Obama may bring good news for the Indian aviation sector this Republic Day, as his visit coincides with the timing of a written report from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on the audit conducted last month. Obama is the chief guest at the 66th Republic Day parade.

An internal note by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) says that the initial report on the audit conducted between December 8 and 12, 2014, will be sent by the FAA in over a month.

“The FAA team was very impressed with our improvement in processes. We expect that the US president might bring some good news for the aviation sector,” said a senior DGCA official, who did not want to be identified.

The FAA had downgraded India to category II status in safety oversight capability in January last year on two key concerns — lack of training of its officials and lack of full-time Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs) on DGCA’s rolls. Both these issues have been resolved now.
07/01/15 Sharmistha Mukherjee/Indian Express
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