As expected, India’s score in aviation safety has received a massive boost following the audit done by the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The audit was performed under its Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP), covering legislation, organization, personnel licensing, operations, and airworthiness & aerodromes. The new ranking puts India ahead of several other countries, including China and Denmark.
Ranking improves
India now finds itself among the top 50 nations in aviation safety after its ICAO ranking jumped from 102 to 48. Last month, the ICAO carried out its safety audit in India from November 9th to 16th and the country’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), was pretty happy with how things went and was expecting a great score.
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Indeed, India has received its best score so far, currently at 85.49%. The Economic Times (ET) quotes DGCA chief Arun Kumar as saying,
“India has done extremely well in all respects which has resulted in substantial improvement of our scores putting us in the company of nations with best safety standards and oversight systems. DGCA is a team of highly committed officials, who work tirelessly to improve aviation safety. Happy to note that it is acknowledged. The challenge is to maintain the new-found status.”
Improvement all around
A good ICAO score makes life easier for airlines looking to expand their reach internationally. It gives confidence to relevant authorities to grant permissions to carriers from countries with decent scores.
ET states that India has improved its score in all areas, including aircraft operations from 80.34% to 97.44 %, airworthiness from 90.20 to 97.06 %, and aerodrome licensing from 72.36 % to 92.68 %.
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One of the biggest jumps came in personnel licensing, improving massively from 25.88% to 84.71%. This was because, in its last audit, the ICAO had pointed out the universal practice of aviation regulators handling the audit and licensing requirements of air traffic controllers, which India implemented in 2019, thereby improving its score.
SpiceJet was audited, too
SpiceJet was the only scheduled carrier in the country audited by the ICAO last month. The airline has had a rough year, with its safety protocols and finances coming under the microscope. But in the recent exhaustive audit, it was found that SpiceJet had everything in order.
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The carrier’s Chairman and MD Ajay Singh commented,
“The ICAO audit is the benchmark of safety. We are proud that our safety culture, systems, processes and operations have been found to be in order and at par with the global best practices and safety standards. This audit is a testament to the highest standard of safety followed by SpiceJet.”
Indeed, for an airline that has been making news for not-so-good reasons for most of the year, this has come as a welcome relief.
What do you make of India’s improved ICAO ranking? Please leave a comment below.
Source: The Economic Times
