New Delhi: The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will conduct an audit of India's aviation safety oversight standards, mainly covering the areas of aircraft operations, airworthiness and personnel licensing, from November 16 to 20, according to an official.
Currently, India, one of the world's fastest growing civil aviation markets, has Category 1 status under FAA's aviation safety assessment programme.
FAA under its International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme determines whether a country's oversight of its air carriers that operate, or seek to operate, into the US or codeshare with a US air carrier, complies with safety standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
The official said FAA team will be carrying out the audit from November 16 to 20 that will cover mainly the areas of aircraft operations, airworthiness and personnel licensing.
IASA programme focuses on a country's ability to adhere to international aviation safety standards and recommended practices with respect to personnel licensing, operation of aircraft and airworthiness of aircraft of ICAO.
At present, Air India is the only Indian carrier to operate direct flights to US cities.
FAA's Category 1 status is a key approval for the country's aviation safety oversight standards.
In the previous FAA audit, India retained the Category 1 status.
Under the IASA programme, FAA conducted an audit of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) from October 25 to 29, 2021 in the areas of aircraft operations, airworthiness and personnel licensing. The assessment was followed by final consultations on April 25 and 26 last year.
Subsequently, there was a review by FAA in July 2022 and September 2022. The outcome of the audit was announced in April 2023.
Last year, the country witnessed one of its worst aircraft accidents as Air India's Boeing 787-8 aircraft enroute to London Gatwick crashed soon after takeoff from Ahmedabad, killing 260 people. This year, there have been some helicopter accidents as well as a few other incidents.
Meanwhile, in January 2014, FAA had downgraded India to Category 2 status and after taking necessary corrective steps, Category 1 status was restored in 2015.
In December 2012, ICAO conducted an audit of DGCA wherein two Significant Safety Concerns (SSCs) in the areas of operations and airworthiness were raised.
The SSCs were resolved and validated by ICAO in August 2013. Based on the identification of the SSCs, FAA raised concerns on the safety oversight capability of DGCA and audited the regulator under the IASA in September 2013. There was a follow up in December 2013 before downgrading India to Category 2 status in January 2014.
DGCA took actions to address the issues, following which Category 1 status was restored.