India jumps to 48th place in ICAO aviation safety ranking, say DGCA officials

New Delhi: India has jumped to the 48th position in the global aviation safety ranking by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), according to DGCA officials.

Four years ago, the country was ranked in the 102nd position.

In the ranking, Singapore is at the top, followed by the UAE and South Korea at the second and third positions, respectively, the officials said.

Under its Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) Continuous Monitoring Approach, an ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM) was undertaken from November 9 to 16.

On Saturday, DGCA chief Arun Kumar told PTI that the regulator has worked tirelessly to upgrade India’s safety ranking and the results are there. “Hopefully, we continue to remain vigilant and improve further”.

The country’s score in terms of effective implementation of key safety elements has improved to 85.49 percent, the officials said.

On November 16, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the audit was conducted in the areas of legislation, organisation, personal licensing, operations, airworthiness, and aerodromes.

“As per the initial reports, the mission was highly successful. India has done extremely well and our scores will see a substantial improvement putting us in the company of nations with the best safety standards and oversight systems,” it had said in a release.