India has jumped to the 48th position — its highest ever spot — in the global aviation safety ranking by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) officials said. Four years ago, the country was at the 102nd spot in the rankings.
The country’s score in terms of effective implementation of key safety elements has improved to 85.49%, putting it ahead of China (49), Israel (50) and Turkey (54).
India’s score in the 2018 Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme was 69.95%.
“Maintaining the new found status is a challenge. We assure all our stakeholders that DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) will leave no stone unturned to further improve India’s ranking,” said DGCA director general Arun Kumar.
A formal announcement on the result is expected soon, he added. The higher ranking means that India has improved its air safety processes. Better aviation safety in home skies also allows Indian carriers to expand faster in overseas markets as permissions for new services are easier to get.
The United Nations agency had conducted the audit from November 9 to 16 in areas including legislation, organisation, personal licensing, operations, airworthiness and aerodrome. “Two areas, aircraft accident and investigation and air navigation, were not audited by ICAO,” Kumar said.
“To check if rules were being followed, the team also visited Delhi airport, SpiceJet, a charter operator, air traffic control, communication navigation and surveillance,” he said.
India’s score for civil aviation organisation rose from 63.64% to 72.73%, personnel licensing and training from 25.58% to 84.71%, aircraft operations from 80.34% to 97.44%, airworthiness of aircraft from 90.20% to 97.06% and aerodrome and ground aids from 72.36% to 92.68%.
