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A US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) team is in Delhi to audit the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) safety oversight mechanism.
In January, the FAA downgraded India's safety ranking to category II finding deficiencies in DGCA's safety oversight function and had imposed curbs on additional flights by Indian carriers to the US.
This has impacted Air India and Jet Airways, particularly the latter which is keen to add flights to Chicago and New York. Also US airlines have been restricted from code sharing with Indian carriers.
Air India earns about 18-20% revenue from India-US routes while Jet Airways about 5% of its revenue from its sole flight to Newark.
FAA team's Delhi visit a month before US president Barack Obama's India trip has led to buzz in aviation circles about a quick revision in India's ranking.
"The FAA team is checking DGCA's procedures regarding certification of airlines and charter companies. The audit is currently underway. While India follows International Civil Aviation Organisation standards there were lacunae in procedures being followed in India. These processes have been streamlined and certification process has been revamped," said a civil aviation ministry official.
Vistara, the Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture, is expected to receive its operating permit next week. The delay in the airline securing approval was being attributed to DGCA complying to FAA conditions.
FAA, in safety audits conducted in September and December last year, had expressed severe concerns over the lack of full-time flight operations inspectors (FOIs) in the DGCA and had subsequently downgraded India to category II of safety rankings, clubbing it with countries such as Zimbabwe and Indonesia.
The DGCA, under its chief Prabhat Kumar, has been working overtime to fast-track processes and meet requirements pointed out by the FAA.
DGCA has hired 56 FOIs and has roped in The Wicks Group (TWG) to enable India to regain category I status in safety rankings.
TWG has former FAA officials on board and has previously helped countries like Azerbaijan, Cape Verde, Trinidad and Tobago, Saudi Arabia and Ukraine to upgrade their air safety rankings.
