DGCA and US agency agreement on aviation safety

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of India and United States Technical Development Agency (USTDA) signed the Grant Agreement for India Aviation Safety Technical Assistance Phase II in New Delhi recently. The Minister of Civil Aviation, P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, and Leocadia I. Zak, Director, US Trade and Development Agency were present on the occasion. USTDA will be partially funding the assistance to the tune of $8,08,327 and contractor The Wicks Group (TWG) will share the cost of assistance at $75,000. Government of India’s contribution is for an amount of $446,866.

In-kind Cost Share, valued at $1,96,866 for international roundtrip air travel on Indian air carriers between the US and India and in-country ground transportation for the Contractor during the duration of the assistance; and Cash Cost Share – $250000.

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, and India was assigned Category 2 rating in January 2014.

In March 2014, 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.

Phase II of the current 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.