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US civil aviation delegation in India
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NewsByte on 08 May, 2008 03:59:13
 
By SRIDHAR KUMARASWAMI
New Delhi, May 8: The Indo-US nuclear deal may be all but dead but civil
aviation cooperation between India and the US is well and alive. A high-level
team from the United States Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) is currently on a
visit to India, during which delegation members met officials of the
directorate-general of civil aviation (DGCA) and studied the aviation systems of
two airlines, state-owned carrier Air India and private airline Kingfisher
Airlines.
The FAA delegation visited Mumbai on Wednesday where it met top Air India
officials and on Thursday, the delegation met top officials of the Kingfisher
Airlines.
Officials of both the airlines acquainted the FAA delegation with the working
of their airlines. A top DGCA official confirmed the visit of the FAA delegation
and said that it wanted to "study the working and systems of the DGCA".
Both the civil aviation ministry and DGCA officials were tight-lipped about
details of the visit. FAA officials based in India were also unavailable for
comment.
The United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) had awarded a grant of
over $5 lakhs in January this year to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for
technology upgrades on its air-traffic management system and communication
systems so that new navigational technologies can be introduced.
A memorandum of agreement had been signed in the civil aviation sector between
the US FAA and India in November, 2006, that pledged assistance in providing
technical and managerial expertise in the development of civil aviation
infrastructure, training for civil aviation personnel, inspection and
calibration of Indian civil aviation equipment and air navigation facility,
providing resources, logistical support and equipment for air navigation
facilities, assistance in airport certification and the field of helicopter
operational safety.
India and the US signed a revised air transport agreement in April, 2005, that
provided for a liberalised air services agreement following which the US became
the only country with which India signed an agreement based on "open sky
principles".