Indian aviation sector cannot be complacent after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) upgrade and it is essential to sustain the ratings and some safety issues needs to be addressed, Director General of Civil Aviation M. Sathiyavathy said.
“We will able to sustain our position as a leader in civil aviation, if not in the world at least as a regional player, only if we have co-operation of all the stakeholders in the industry. And that can happen only if all of us feel that safety is an important aspect as far as the aviation industry is concerned,” she said at a FICCI event in New Delhi.
Safety issues in India came to the fore after an Air India Express plane from Dubai with 160 passengers and six crew members on board crashed while landing at Mangaluru airport in May 2010, leaving 158 passengers dead. “After the Mangaluru accident, we have not had major incident in India. But that does not imply that we should become complacent. There are a few incidents which are taking place, mainly because we have compromised on some of the safety aspects,” she said.
According to her, these incidents included pilots not having their pilot proficiency certification done on a regular basis and also not undergoing the breath analyser test. “So, we in the DGCA have decided to do the oversight properly and at the same time ensure that we also play the role of facilitator for the industry to grow,” Ms. Sathiyavathy said. She also said the FAA audit focused on aspects like only few sectors of the civil aviation authority, which included aspects such as operations and the flight training organisations.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation would do a comprehensive audit in November this year. “This audit will not only be restricted to the operations, but involve entire gamut of aviation sector including airports, air navigation, air traffic control along with whatever FAA has done,” Ms. Sathiyavathy said.
