The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has for the first time come up with a specific timeline and fee structure for services like issuing of flying permits, airworthiness certificates and clearance of flight schedules to check red-tapism.
DGCA’s 63-page Standards of Services document provides a concise detail of the work involved in processing an application, including those related to rules and regulations. It also provides details of fees charged for the service.
The services have been broadly divided into those related to aircraft, aircraft operator, foreign airline operating authorisation, aerodromes, air space and air traffic management and approval of schedules among other things.
“The highlight of the document is that it gives timelines for the completion of an activity resulting in the issue of an approval, license, permit or a certificate by the DGCA,” a Civil Aviation Ministry statement said.
As part of its initiative for better service, the airline regulator said it has also instructed the officers to seek clarification only once from the applicant, especially for services offered to individuals such as pilots, engineers, etc.
Officials said the publication of the document is part of the regulator’s effort to regain the Category-1 status, which was revoked by the United States' Federal Aviation Administration.
As per the timeline, a decision on providing Air Operator's Permit (AOP) should be taken within six months after the operator gets a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Civil Aviation Ministry. The immediate beneficiary of such a move will be the proposed Tata-SIA Airline, which has got the NOC in April 2. For giving operating authorisation to foreign airlines, the DGCA has set a deadline of three months on taking a decision.
An assessment should be done by a committee consisting of representatives from the Directorate of Regulations and Information, Directorate of Airworthiness, Directorate of Air Safety, Directorate of Flight Standards and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security.
For renewal of this authorisation, it would take one month. No fees are charged on both these counts.