ICAO says it doesn't audit airlines just days after SpiceJet claims of 'safe airline'

SpiceJet

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on December 14 said that it never audits any airline or airport in any country, just days after SpiceJet said that it's operations, safety processes and systems have been found to be in order after an exhaustive audit was conducted by the ICAO.

"As part of an ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM), ICAO teams conduct industry visits to verify the effectiveness of the civil aviation authority’s safety oversight. This will include visits to multiple operators. ICAO wishes to clarify that visits to these operators are not an audit or inspection at all," the international organisation said in a statement.

When asked to identify the 'operators' in its statement the ICAO said "that any question pertaining to a specific activity can only be answered by the regulatory body".

“It is important to recognize that these audits do not cover airlines, airports or other industry operators,” ICAO said.

The ICAO is a specialized agency which is a part of the United Nations that sets standards and regulations for civil aviation.  It audits the aviation safety and aviation security oversight capacities of its member states.

The ICAO had conducted an ICVM of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation from November 9 to 16 this year to validate progress in addressing the findings from previous USOAP activities.

Air safety analyst Mohan Ranganathan also told Moneycontrol that the ICAO only audits aviation regulators around the world.

"If any airline claims ICAO has rated them, they are lying through their teeth," Ranganathan said

He added that the DGCA's claims of India's air safety ranking improving may also be false as the ICAO usually takes three months after its audit to come out with its report.

"ICAO never gives a ranking to a country's aviation regulator," Ranganathan added.

On December 5, SpiceJet in a statement had claimed that "the comprehensive audit by ICAO firmly establishes SpiceJet's credentials which it said in the statement as a "safe airline".

"We are proud that SpiceJet was the only scheduled Indian airline to undergo validation checks by ICAO in this audit. SpiceJet is truly humbled at playing a role in India achieving the highest ever safety ranking and making it to the top 50 nations in terms of ICAO aviation safety audit scores. This audit is a testament to the highest standard of safety followed by SpiceJet,"  Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director of SpiceJet had said in a statement

The airline's claims come just a few months after SpiceJet has undergone a turbulent phase in recent times on account of several glitches and a non-adherence to mandated guidelines in regard to the training of some pilots.

The airline had seen a series of incidents from April including its pilots being restrained and grounding fifty percent of the airline's fleet due to safety issues and missing parts.