Civil aviation sector retains top FAA ranking

India's aviation sector has retained its Category 1 safety audit rating from global auditors – International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu announced on Wednesday.

“Two important safety audits conducted by ICAO and FAA have certified highest possible safety audit standards followed by the aviation sector,” Prabhu said, recalling that the two auditors had downgraded the civil aviation sector in India in similar audits in January 2014.

This was the third audit carried out by the FAA to confirm India's adherence to the ICAO standards for aviation safety and oversight of Indian airliners.

Prabhu said the FAA conducted these audits to ensure the adherence of safety standards on aircraft flying into the US from India.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha sought to put the safety rating in a context by pointing out that aviation sector in the country had witnessed exponential and dramatic growth through increase in air traffic and rise in the number of airports from 67 to 101.

What it means

Category 1 ranking means the air carriers from the assessed state may initiate or continue service to the US in a normal manner and take part in reciprocal code-share arrangements with American carriers.

According to an internal audit by Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the rate of accidents per million departures in India stood at 0.9 till November 2018 against world average of 1.9. Similarly, cases of mishaps related to aircraft operations fell to 4.71 incidents per 10,000 departures till November 2018 against 6.56 incidents per 10,000 departures in 2017.

Serious incidents

However, the numbers increased to a four-year high of 0.14 incidents per 10,000 departures for “serious incidents” category. Serious incidents are those that have high probability of being converted into an accident due to failure in operating an aircraft.