India
Independent CAA on course in India
September 1st 2013
After years of pressure from its airlines India has finally decided to create an independent Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to oversee its aviation industry. Read More »
Unlike the existing Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the new body will have full operational and financial autonomy. According to draft legislation it will have the authority to recruit staff and fix wage levels without turning to the government for cash.
The CAA legislation was expected to be passed in India’s current parliamentary session.
The need to significantly change the country’s aviation oversight and regulatory regime has become critical as India faces the prospect of a downgrade of its air safety system by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The organization issued a scathing report on the DGCA last November.
It particularly criticized a 40% shortfall in staff, including insufficient numbers of trained safety inspectors. The DGCA should employ 994 staff, but 427 posts have been vacant since 2009.
The shortfall is largely the result of a cumbersome recruitment process managed by the Union Public Service Commission. Low salaries also fail to attract qualified candidates.
An ICAO safety downgrade would have a serious impact on India’s struggling airlines. It would potentially bar the country’s carriers from flying to many overseas destinations, including Europe and the U.S.
India has several regulators. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) oversees building of new airports and the management of existing ones. The Airport Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA) fixes tariffs and administers privately managed airports. The DGCA oversees safety and navigation operations of airlines, sets airworthiness standards for civil aircraft registered in India and grants licences to pilots and engineers.
The new CAA, which is not expected to be operational until sometime next year, will be self-funding although the government will set up a consolidated fund in its budget to provide additional money to solve the manpower shortage.
Unlike the DGCA, the CAA will have full functional and financial autonomy to recruit its own staff. It will decide on pay structures and will have the power to fix and collect fees for services such as safety oversight and air traffic services.
Civil aviation secretary, K. N. Srivastava, said the cost of creating and running the new regulator would be around $18.3 million a year. Some $8.2 million of that would come from a nominal surcharge on airline tickets of up to 10 rupees (US$16 cents).
Srivastava said the CAA will be run by a nine-member board headed by a non-executive chairperson and a chief executive. The government intends to recruit an aviation expert rather than a bureaucrat as chief executive, he added.
