Wednesday, April 01, 2015

Hire people with technical background to head DGCA, says US Federal Aviation Authority

New Delhi: The US aviation regulator has asked Indian authorities to hire people with technical background at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the local regulator which has typically been headed by a senior civil service official. A delay in meeting the demand could potentially hamper India's prospects of getting back the top rating by the most powerful aviation authority in the world.

The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) wants the director-general as well as other key officials of the Indian aviation regulatory body to have technical knowledge of the sector.
The Federal Aviation Authority conveyed its demand to India's civil aviation ministry at the end of an audit conducted this week, a DGCA official said. A written response to the demand will be sent later, he said.

FAA downgraded India to a Category II market in January last year citing two key concerns: lack of training for DGCA officials and shortage of full-time flight operations inspectors on the regulator's rolls. If the country continues to remain there, it could hamper Indian airlines' services to the US and other countries that follow FAA standards, as well as their ability to form codeshare tie-ups with foreign carriers.
01/04/15 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times
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