In a report that is certain to have rattled India’s Civil Aviation authorities, global oversight body International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO),in its safety audit report of 2015, has given India significantly lower safety ranking than its neighbours such as Pakistan and Sri Lanka.Surprisingly, while on the one hand Delhi’s International Airport has been tagged as one of the “best airports” in the world, ICAO safety report reveals a different picture for Indian airports in terms of “Effective Implementation” (EI) in Legislation, Air Navigation, Accident Investigation, Licensing and Organisation.
In terms of Accident Investigation, i.e. an aircraft sustaining damage or structural failure during flight operation, EI is 34.26 per cent in India whereas Sri Lanka and Pakistan have scored 90.72 per cent and 87.5 per cent respectively.Notably, Effective Implementation of Legislation in India stands at just 50 per cent, which is again very low as compared to China and other neighbouring countries.
When asked about the basis on which this audit report was prepared, Anthony Philibin, Chief Communication Officer of the Secretary General, ICAO said that under its Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP), ICAO confirms a Significant Safety Concern (SSC) with respect to a country’s oversight resources and procedures. When this occurs, the state in question is given a maximum of 15 days to undertake mitigating measures and implement a suitable Corrective Action Plan (CAP) to resolve the SSC and conform to required standards.
India’s Effective Implementation of Navigation Services as per ICAO standards is 68.75 per cent while that of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and China is 75, 84.38 and 87.11 respectively far outstripping India’s performance.In Effective implementation of Organisation and Accidental Investigation, India scored a relatively poor 63.64 and 45.74 percent, according the world body’s safety audit.
A Hyderabad-based aviation safety consultant and air safety expert, Captain Mohan Ranganathan, said ICAO has found India well below the world average on Aerodromes (For Licensing) and Accident Investigations. “There are several violations of ICAO Guidelines Annex 14, Volume 1 Standards that are mandatory. Several runways do not have the mandatory Runway End Safety Areas (RESA) as well as the mandatory strip, runways which do not have the mandatory strip of 155m on either side have been permitted without operational restrictions,” said Ranganathan, who also served as former instructor pilot of Boeing 737and specialised in wet runway operations training.
