The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will begin a final round of inspections of all Indian airlines this week, ahead of the US Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) audit of India’s safety oversight, officials told HT.
“Two rounds of inspections, majorly focusing on operations of Air India and Indigo, were conducted in August and September.
The final round of inspections however will cover all airlines,” one of the officials aware of the development said. The inspections will largely focus on the operational and safety standards maintained by the airlines, officials said. A third official said the “special” or “final” inspection would be completed by the end of the month. “Airlines have been informed about the pre- FAA inspections,” another official said. “Some serious observations were noted in the previous two inspections which were raised with the concerned airlines for them to immediately take the needed action and inform about the same.”
HT first reported that the DGCA had submitted the proposal to the civil aviation ministry . The DGCA is also preparing replies to an FAA questionnaire. “The DGCA will also submit a set of questionnaires asked by the FAA. The FAA visit comes as a major overhaul of the regulator has been proposed, with a plan to transform the DGCA into an independent, financially autonomous authority.
We are confident that India would be able to retain the Category 1 status this year too.
The observations were not disclosed, but airlines had responded, said people aware of the matter. These replies are attached with evidence and will be submitted to the US regulator before their arrival,” an official said. A civil aviation ministry official aware of the matter said, “FAA majorly looks as air safety and operations apart from various other aspects.
