The Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Dr. Nasim Zaidi and the FAA Administrator, Randy Babbitt signing a bilateral Aviation Safety agreement in New Delhi.

The Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) between India and the USA has been signed by Dr. Nasim Zaidi, Secretary, Civil Aviation and J. Randolph Babbitt, Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today. The signing coincides with the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to India. The signing took place in the presence of Senior Officers from the Ministry, DGCA, AAI from the Indian side and FAA and USTDA from the US side.

BASA will facilitate reciprocal airworthiness certification of civil aeronautical products imported/exported between the two signatory authorities. Indian standards would be comparable to global standards and its aeronautical products would be accepted by the U.S.

The nascent aircraft manufacturing industry in India would be hugely benefited and it would spur trade between the two sides. It would demonstrate that India has the capability to develop FAA certifiable aircraft articles/appliances. It would encourage the civil aeronautical products industry which will eventually lead to self sufficiency in the sector.

BASA would encourage indigenous aircraft and aeronautical products industry and the US acceptance of Indian products will help their global acceptance. It would lessen the economic burden imposed on the aviation industry and operators by redundant technical inspections, evaluations and testing.

The next stage is to sign the implementation Procedures for Airworthiness (IPA) which provides for airworthiness technical cooperation between FAA and its counterpart civil aviation authorities. The scope of IPA can be enhanced from time to time. The USA has signed BASA with 24 countries.

The Secretary of Civil Aviation, Nasim Zaidi addressing at the launch of the 3rd International Exhibition & Conference on Civil Aviation “India Aviation-2012”.

Dr. Nasim Zaidi, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation launched “India Aviation-2012”, the 3rd international Exhibition and Conference on Civil Aviation today at Begumpet Airport. Addressing on the occasion, Dr. Zaidi said that it would be necessary to redefine the parameters of regulation in order to assure travellers the guarantee of safety. The ministry is considering restructuring the DGCA into a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). In order to prevent repetitive accidents, an Independent Civil Aviation Accident Investigation Committee has been set up within oversight of Ministry of Civil Aviation to coordinate and oversee the investigation into accidents and also effective follow up of compliance of recommendations.

Steps are under way to set up a full-fledged Independent Accident Investigation Board. He announced that a land mark Bilateral Aviation Safety agreement has been approved by the Cabinet and will be signed with USA, during the visit of Hilary Clinton, US Secretary of State. The proposed agreement will open up huge market for export of aeronautical products manufactured in the country in USA and other regions of the world. This will open up huge potential for investment.

Emphasizing the passengers’ facilities and consumer protection, he said that the rights of the passengers need to be respected and protected at all times. The significant steps for consumer protection has been taken through CARs on disability related rights, refunds, cancellations, delays, over-bookings and denied boarding. He suggested that airlines and airports should compete with each other in offering to passengers better of facilities, services and protection of their rights. He announced that a task force is working in Ministry to prepare an outline to set up an Ombudsman institution in civil aviation sector. Ministry of Civil Aviation has also set up an Innovation Council to suggest primarily IT lead innovations to improve products, services and customer related matters by airlines, airports and air traffic management service providers.

Dr. Zaidi also announced that the Ministry of Civil Aviation is also proposing to declare February 18 as Civil Aviation Day every year.

On connectivity, he said that the ministry is reviewing policy of route dispersal guidelines to enhance connectivity in inaccessible areas and islands of the country. With a view to increase regional connectivity, regulatory framework pertaining to schedule and regional operators is also currently being reviewed to ensure that regional connectivity gets boost with the support of Airports Authority of India and private sector participating in the development of Tier II and Tier III cities. A task force is also working to examine the ways and means required to cut transaction time, cost and various other measures to simplify procedures to improve business environment with regulatory authorities.

Highlighting the growth of Civil Aviation Sector that the Secretary said that the sector has registered phenomenal growth in India in past decade. Passenger traffic has grown at 18% year on year basis and the year 2010 closed at 90 million passengers both domestic and international. India is the fastest growing aviation market and expected to be within 4-5 big aviation markets by 2020 and 3rd in terms of domestic market after US and China. India will cross 450 million marks of domestic passengers by 2020. During the last two decades from a fleet of only about 100, the scheduled operators today have 435 aircrafts connecting the nation and the world. It is projected that the center of gravity in the aviation industry will be shifting to the Asia-Pacific region in the coming years. Considering the geographic position of India, it has the potential to become an aviation hub at the cross roads between Europe/ Middle East and Asia Pacific. He informed that T-3 Terminal at Delhi International Airport is already evolving into a hub. About 11000 passengers are transiting from various spokes to different destinations in the world by utilizing spoke and hub system. It is also proposed to develop Mumbai and Chennai as hubs in next 2 years.

There are 271 helicopters in the country out of which 209 are engaged in commercial non-scheduled operations. A large percentage of the helicopter fleet (71 %) is of single engine helicopters. The helicopter industry has a tremendous growth potential as indicated in recent analytical studies. The growth brings challenges and safety is the paramount concern of DGCA. DGCA is committed to meet the target of reducing helicopter accident rate by 80 percent by 2016.

In the review, the helicopter operators expressed their views on wide ranging issues related to helicopter operations. The DGCA summed up the suggestions with concrete action points and assured that periodic review meetings will ensure compliance of safety initiatives both on part of regulator and the operators. The action plan is to lay stress on analysis of accident and incident data and implementation of recommendations of inquiries; training of pilots in handling of emergencies with the use of simulators, introduction of safety management system which has proved successful in countries where it is practiced and addressing the deteriorated condition of helipads under the control of state governments. The Director General advised RWSI to create a database of all helipads available in the country and their features, obstacles etc., and publish the information for use by helicopter pilots. He also assured that separately, the matter will be discussed with AAI to review the special corridors for helicopters for operations from Juhu and Delhi.

Dr. Zaidi said that issues of safety, security, infrastructure development and connectivity are most important in the aviation sector. He said that there should be zero tolerance policy as far as safety is concerned. He advised the State representatives to improve their Civil Aviation system including State Government related aircraft operations, as per DGCA regulations immediately so that the safety could be strengthened further. He said that security is indivisible and cannot be segregated between States and Centre. There is a need to harmonise the processes and procedures at all the Airports and to ensure that the State police staff is well trained and proficient in his work as the CISF. On connectivity, he said that Government’s role in connectivity is limited to formulate socially equitable policies and ensure its implementation. He said that the availability of suitable infrastructure and the commercial viability are two factors, which play major role in improving connectivity. Dr. Zaidi stressed upon all the States to implement of the Civil Aviation Rule (CAR) of safety at the earliest. State Government representative assured to implement in three months timeframe.

The senior officials of the Ministry, Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), Air India, Airport Authority of India and State Aviation Secretaries and representatives attended the meeting. Issues like aviation safety, security, connectivity, infrastructure, control of services around the airport, town planning around the airport, Sales Tax Concession for ATF, Bird Hazard Control and environmental clearance were discussed in the meeting. On the occasion, the Chairman of Air India, Chairman of AAI, Commissioner of BCAS, Financial Advisor of the Ministry and DDG, DGCA made power point presentations on their respective sectors.