India BEATS China in aviation safety, now ranked among TOP 50 countries globally

International aviation body ICAO has ranked India at 48th spot among the safest countries for aviation. India, which was earlier ranked at 102nd spot in 2018 is now among the top 50 countries with best aviation safety in the latest ICAO rankings. The ranking also places India ahead of China (49) and is the highest ever received by India, according to DGCA officials, which in turn will help domestic airlines in international expansion. In a series of tweets, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) said the ICAO has given the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) the highest Effective Implementation (EI) score of 85.49 per cent.

"India is now among the top 50 countries with best aviation safety according to the latest @icao rankings. This major break through will also help Indian airlines to expand internationally," it said. The rankings are for 187 countries and assessments were done at different points of time.

India is now among the top 50 countries with best aviation safety according to the latest @icao rankings.
This major breakthrough in safety ranking will also help Indian airlines to expand internationally.#aviationdaily #aviation pic.twitter.com/q8OguzqJO7 — MoCA_GoI (@MoCA_GoI) December 4, 2022

With a score of 85.49 per cent each, India and Georgia are at the 48th position. Neighbouring Pakistan is at the 100th spot with a score of 70.39 per cent. The rankings are topped by Singapore with a score of 99.69 per cent. It is followed by the UAE at the second position with a score of 98.8 per cent and the Republic of Korea is at the third place (98.24 per cent).

Others in the top ten are France (4th; 96.42 per cent), Iceland (5th; 95.73 per cent), Australia (6th; 95.04 per cent), Canada (7th; 94.95 per cent), Brazil (8th; 94.72 per cent), Ireland (9th; 94.6 per cent) and Chile (10th; 93.9 per cent), as per the DGCA officials.

With the country getting its highest-ever rank in the ICAO aviation safety rankings, DGCA chief Arun Kumar on Sunday said the challenge now is to maintain and further improve the air safety ecosystem.

The comments also come against the backdrop of the country's aviation sector slowly coming back into the growth trajectory after being severely hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and the domestic air traffic is also inching towards the pre-pandemic level.

"A robust safety oversight system certified and acknowledged by the experts is sine qua non for flight safety and very assuring for the flying public... The DGCA team has worked tirelessly to strengthen aviation safety. Now, we are on a peak and so the challenge is to maintain and improve further," DGCA chief Arun Kumar told PTI on Sunday.

In July, against the backdrop of various technical snags faced by domestic airlines, the DGCA chief had said they did not have the potential to cause havoc and that the country's civil aviation space was "absolutely safe" and all the protocols laid down by the ICAO were followed.

With PTI inputs