UN agency ICAO to conduct partial audit of Indian aviation sector in February: Report

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The UN’s International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is scheduled to conduct a partial audit of India’s aviation sector in February 2021.

While the agency’s audits usually cover eight aspects, this time only five of them -- personnel licensing and training, aircraft operations, airworthiness of aircraft, and organisational and legislative matters -- covered under Directorate General of Civil Aviation will be assessed.

The Centre is hoping that a positive review will bolster India’s ranking after suffering double blows due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Air India Express crash in Kozhikode, The Economic Times reported.

It is yet uncertain whether the audit will be conducted physically or virtually as this would depend on the COVID-19 status by February, a senior government official told the paper.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

“We are all set to improve our ranking as our agencies, including the DGCA, have done a lot to improve India’s aviation norms,” the official added.

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The DGCA taking over the process for licencing of air traffic control officers (ATCO) from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is expected to boost ranking, they said. This was the factor that led to India being ranked lower than some other sub-continent countries during the 2017-18 audit.

“Concerns have been addressed and there will be a substantial improvement in our ratings. The DGCA has been recruiting flight operations inspectors, conducting interviews as recruitment, has been constantly auditing airlines and found no major safety aspect. All this will help improve ratings,” the official added.

A higher rating would mean lower restrictions during the pandemic period as airlines worldwide re-open, and would also act as a reassurance of Indian air services after the AIE crash.

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