DGCA to re-certify permits for Spicejet, IndiGo, Go Air, Air Asia in January

The aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), will begin a re-certification process for the air operator’s permit (AOP) given to Spicejet, IndiGo, Go Air and Air Asia in January, a top government official told FE. The move could lead to challenges for the airlines, similar to Jet Airways where several crew members failed a safety drill in the re-certification process last month.

The re-certification process, which has five stages in all and is similar to any new airline applying for an AOP, is being done on the advice of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which had downgraded India’s air safety rating to Category 2 in January this year. The FAA had said that the DGCA had inadequate safety oversight, and marked 31 areas of concern.

“We expect to begin the re-certification process for Spicejet, IndiGo, and other airlines that operate domestic flights in January-February next year. The process will be exactly similar to what we do for any new airline,” the official said.

The regulator is currently completing the re-certification of both Jet Airways and Air India – these two airlines were taken up first because both operate flights between the US and India, and are thereby directly under the ambit of the FAA. “The US FAA audit will begin on December 8 and we will have completed the Jet and Air India certification by then. We have spread out the certification into two phases because otherwise there was too less time to finish everything,” the official said.

While flag carrier Air India on Thursday saw a safety drill conducted for its Airbus A320 fleet, Jet Airways saw about 40 of its cabin crew grounded after they failed a DGCA safety evacuation drill on the Airbus A330 on October 27th. FE had reported this in its edition dated November 3, 2014.

To bolster its oversight capabilities in line with FAA observations, DGCA also hopes to hire 36 more Flight Operation Inspectors (FOIs) over the next two months to complete its sanctioned strength of 75 as approved by the Union Cabinet this January. The interviews for the FOIs will happen over Friday and Saturday.

“This will be the fourth round of hiring of FOIs on market salaries paid by the government. We are looking at a ratio of one FOI for every 10 aircraft, and currently we have 400 helicopters and 400 planes (scheduled carriers) in the country,” the official said.