The International Workshop on Global Aviation Safety Roadmap (GASR), being organised by the Delhi Branch of Aeronautical Society of India, was inaugurated here today. 

Inaugurating the Workshop, the Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Shri M. Madhavan Nambiar emphasised on the Government’s commitment to make safety the top priority in the Aviation Sector.  He said that there was a great need for all stakeholders including the Government, the airlines and airport operators, the regulators and others to work together, adopt the best international practices and make all aviation systems as safe as possible.  “With air travel already being the safest form of transportation, the challenge to industry and regulatory agencies is to make an already safe system safer.”  He called upon the aviation community to find new ways to identify and manage the challenge of maintaining safety in the midst of growth.  He said that to meet the demands of growing air transportation systems that will overlap and must accommodate each other within the next 10 to 20 years, more harmonized standards and measures used in the management of safety are being called for, as well as sharing of key safety performance data that can benefit everyone.

Speaking on the occasion, the Director General of Civil Aviation, Dr. Nasim Zaidi said that focussed action together with introduction of new capability can lead to a significant reduction in accident rate.  In so far as the focus areas of the State are concerned, he said that India implements and operates all the international standards set by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) - 

·      India is updated in the legislations on the most recent standards of ICAO and has filed very few differences.

·      The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is undergoing a restructuring and strengthening process with addition of 550 technical positions.

·      The setting up of an independent Civil Aviation Authority based on ICAO recommendation is under active consideration to ensure effectiveness of regulatory functions. 

·      India is legislating upon ICAO Manual’s Annexe-13 relating to Standard and Recommended Practice (SARPs) to ensure incident reporting and sharing of global data reporting system. 

·      The Government is proposing to set up an independent and impartial investigation body. 

·      A legislative proposal to protect safety data with the purpose of accident prevention is also under examination. 

·      India is cooperating with FAA, EASA and other safety body for sharing of information of accidents and incident. 

·      To ensure complete transparency, DGCA will now publish full accident/ incident reports on its website, all available reports are currently being uploaded on the website and MoUs are being set up in this regard. 

The DGCA said that India is committed to promote safety in South Asian region through Cooperative Development of Operational Safety and Continuing Airworthiness Programme (COSCAP) of the ICAO.  India has implemented 92% of ICAO’s COSCAP findings – an important tool for GASR.  India retains Cat-I under IASA of FAA, and is going to demonstrate its commitment to safety in the follow up visits of FAA in July 2010.

The GASR Workshop being held over the next two days address two focus area – ‘Inconsistent adoption industry and best practices’ and ‘Gaps in the use of technology’ to enhance safety.  The best practices outlined in the GASR are an important tool to ensure that objectives are met.  Adoption of these best practices are expected to improve overall safety and efficiency.  The gap analysis involves the coordinated participation of both the industry and regulatory authorities.  The Forum is expected to lay emphasise on the safety issues and to help strengthen the GASR as a global tool to deliver safe and secure air transportation with special inputs for the Region to bring about significant reduction in accident rate in India and help build public trust in a safe aviation system.