India's FAA safety upgrade pushed to April as DGCA struggles to fill FOI posts


In a dampener for India’s aviation sector, the country might have to wait a bit longer for an upgrade of its air safety rating by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Business Standard has learnt from official sources.
The main reason is that our regulator, the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has been able to appoint only about 45 Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs), despite the Union Cabinet approving appointments of 75 FOIs at market-linked salaries over a year earlier.
Aviation ministry officials now expect an upgrade only around April, the second such delay. This is also subject to a visit by an FAA team in end-March and their being satisfied. After a visit by an FAA team in December, the ministry said it was confident of an upgrade by January, during US President Barack Obama's visit. It had then revised this to March.


“Right now, the US consultant, The Wicks Group, is working hard with the DGCA team to complete all formalities before the FAA team visit next month. When the team visited in December, it had found two deficiencies. Inadequate number of FOIs was the main problem,” a ministry official said.
DGCA has hastened the appointment process for new FOIs by publishing several job vacancy advertisements on its website this month, offering up to 24 positions. The first vacancy circular on February 3 offered up to 21 posts for a three-year initial term. A second circular dated February 10 offers three more positions as consultants for a year.

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