Staff Correspondent
According to DGCA officials, India has jumped to the 48th position in the global aviation safety ranking by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The country was ranked in the 102nd position four years ago.
The top five countries in the ICAO ranking are Iceland (95.73%), France (96.42%), South Korea (98.24%), UAE with a score of 98.8% and Singapore with a score of 99.69%. The US was in 22nd place and Qatar in 25th place. China is in 49th place.
Others in the top ten are Australia (6th; 95.04%), Canada (7th; 94.95%), Brazil (8th; 94.72%), Ireland (9th; 94.6%) and Chile (10th; 93.9%), as per the DGCA officials.
India’s score in the 2018 Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme was 69.95%. However, the country’s score with regards to effective implementation of key safety elements has increased to 85.49%, leaving behind China (49), Israel (50), Turkey (54), Denmark (55) and Poland (60).
While neighbouring Pakistan is at the 100th spot with a score of 70.39%, India and Georgia are in the 48th position with a score of 85.49% each. An ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM) was undertaken from November 9 to 16, under its Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) Continuous Monitoring Approach.
“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. We have done well. Now the challenge lies in retaining the newfound status. DGCA is a bunch of extremely competent officials and we are confident that given proper support, we will improve further. A formal announcement on the result is expected soon.”, Arun Kumar, Director General DGCA.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on November 16 that the audit was conducted in the areas of legislation, organisation, personal licensing, operations, airworthiness and aerodromes.
“As per the initial reports, the mission was highly successful. India has done extremely well and our scores will see a substantial improvement putting us in the company of nations with the best safety standards and oversight systems,” it had said in a release.
