DGCA signed grant agreement with USTDA for India Aviation Safety Technical Assistance Phase II

India’s the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and United States Technical Development Agency (USTDA) were on 9 February 2016 signed the grant agreement for India Aviation Safety Technical Assistance Phase II in New Delhi.

The phase II of the project is aimed at sustaining efforts undertaken during 2014 for restoration of IASA Category 1 status and bringing in more systemic improvements in the area of operation, airworthiness and licensing. It will include components on general aviation and business aviation.

Background

• The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) had raised certain safety concerns about Indian aviation in its 2012 audit. Following this the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of USA carried out an International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) audit in September 2013 and a review in December 2013.

• India was assigned Category 2 rating in January 2014.

• In March 2014, United States Technical Development Agency (USTDA) in coordination with FAA approached DGCA and offered assistance under a USTDA Grant Agreement project to address the FAA IASA findings and help restore Category 1 status to India.

• Under the Grant Agreement, US based Contractor ‘The Wicks Group’(TWG) assisted DGCA in addressing the findings and prepared for a reassessment by FAA in December 2014.

• Based on this reassessment and a follow-up visit in March 2015, India’s Category 1 status was restored in April 2015.

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