Indian civil aviation system should aim for 'Under-20' rankings in ICAO ratings: DGCA Chief Arun Kumar

By Saurabh Trivedi
New Delhi [India], February 25 : India needs to strengthen its Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and overcome the shortage of technical personnel to get into the top 20 ranking of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Arun Kumar, Director General of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Saturday.
DGCA director general Arun Kumar said that the Indian civil aviation system was rapidly growing and in the next few years, airlines would be adding more aircraft to their fleet.
"If we talk about last year's audit by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) that was done in the years 2017, 2018, and 2022, India has improved its score from 57 in 2017 to 86 in 2022. In the year 2018, the score was 70. We have improved our ranking significantly among 193 members of ICAO," Kumar pointed out.
He said that the Indian Civil Aviation system was ranked 137 in the year 2017, but today it stands in 48th position, which is a huge jump.
"Even I feel the rank is not something we should be happy about as we still need a lot to improve especially when our market is growing and rapidly adding more aircraft. Around 700 aircraft are flying every day," Arun Kumar said, adding that in the next few years, 300-400 aircraft will be added to the Indian aviation system's international fleet.
"We should aim to get into the top 20 rankings and to achieve this, we need to score 94-96 in ICAO benchmarks," DGCA chief Kumar added.
He further said to achieve the targets and improve ranking, they have to strengthen the Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau which is reeling under a shortage of trained manpower, and also improve the technical personnel shortage.
He said as Indian civil aviation is in the process to recruit 400 technical manpower in the next couple of years and if it gets done timely, the Indian civil aviation system will improve its ICAO ranking.
"We scored less in Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau and Air navigation service during the ICAO audit. We have scope to improve our ranking by strengthening these sectors," he said.
The audit -- called ICAO-coordinated validated mission (ICVM) is calculated on performance in five areas that are LEG (primary aviation legislation and specific operating regulations), ORG (Civil Aviation Organisation), PEL (Personnel Licensing and Training), OPS (aircraft operations) and AGA (aerodrome and ground aid).
The audit in the sixth area, called AIR (Airworthiness of Aircraft), was done virtually during the same period.