New Delhi: As per the latest audit conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) India's aviation safety ranking has improved significantly from 69.95 per cent to 85.49 per cent, the Government informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
"A team of Auditors from International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) conducted an audit of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) from 09.11.2022 to 16.11.2022. During the closing briefing, the ICAO team informed DGCA that the Effective Implementation of India has increased to 85.49% from the previous 69.95%. The draft report of the audit will be provided by ICAO within 90 days after the last day of on-site activity (16.11.2022)," Gen. (DR) VK Singh, MoS, Ministry of Civil Aviation stated in a written reply.
He was replying to a question from BJP MP Satish Chandra Dubey on whether the latest audit conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)shows that India's aviation safety ranking has improved significantly.
Asked whether the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) also carried out a security audit of the airlines on a regular basis, the Minister replied that DGCA is the safety regulator for ensuring the safety of aircraft operations within India and has laid down a mechanism of conducting surveillance, spot checks, night surveillance etc. of the airlines to ensure the safety of passenger and aircraft.
"The observations/ findings made during surveillance, spot checks and night surveillance are provided to the airline for taking corrective action. The action taken to correct the observation are reviewed and the finding closed. All occurrences are mandatorily reported to DGCA," the MoS stated.
He further stated that based on the violations found during surveillance, spot checks, night surveillance, DGCA initiates enforcement action against the airlines/operator as per the procedure given in Enforcement Policy and Procedures Manual (EPPM) which includes warnings, suspension, cancellation of approval/licence including the imposition of financial penalty on the personnel involved/ airline.
