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UAE gets US aviation administration rating

DUBAI - The US Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced that the UAE complies with international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and issued the country a Category 1 rating.

In Category 1 rating given to the UAE, the civil aviation authority comply with ICAO standards. The authority has been assessed by FAA inspectors and has been found to license and oversee air carriers in accordance with ICAO aviation safety standards.

The announcement is part of the FAA's International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme, under which the agency assesses the civil aviation authorities of all countries with air carriers that operate to the US and makes that information available to the public.

The announcement was received in a communique by the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and was noted yesterday in Dubai during the meeting of its board of directors chaired by Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of Communication and chairman of the board.

The board also approved the final accounts for 2002 and reviewed the aviation development projects in the country.

"IASA is an important tool that we use to measure the ability of our foreign counterparts to comply with worldwide safety standard. The UAE is a good example of a civil aviation authority that has worked hard to successfully meet those standards," said Douglas Lavin, Assistant Administrator for the Office of International Aviation, in the communique received by the GCAA.

Mohammad Ghanim Al Ghaith, Director-General of the GCAA and secretary of the board, said after the board meeting that the assessments are not an indication of whether individual foreign carriers are safe or unsafe.

Rather, they determine whether or not foreign civil aviation authorities (CAA) are meeting ICAO safety standards, not FAA regulations, he said.

Countries with air carriers that fly to the US must adhere to the safety standards of ICAO, the United Nations' technical agency for aviation that establishes international standards and recommended practices for aircraft operations and maintenance.

The FAA, with the cooperation of the host civil aviation authority, assesses countries with airlines that have operating rights to or from the US or have requested such rights. Mr Ghaith said that specifically, the FAA determines whether a foreign civil aviation authority has an adequate infrastructure for international aviation safety oversight as defined by ICAO standards.

Mr Ghaith said that the GCAA earned a profit of Dh13.716 million in 2002 against Dh14.835 million in 2001, less due to higher staff cost as 18 new staff were empoloyed. The expenditure was Dh56 million against Dh52.551 million and the revenue was Dh69.914 million against Dh67.386 million.

He said that the GCAA has signed a contract for the installation of a radar in Dhaid that will be operational in 2004. The board also approved the contingency routes that are operational due the war in Iraq.

The GCAA board meeting was chaired by Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer. It was attended by Shaikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of the Dubai Department of Civil Aviation and chairman of Emirates airline; Shaikh Salem bin Sultan Al Qasimi, DCA chairman in Ras Al Khaimah; Abdullah Ahmed Lootah, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Communication; Mohammed Abdullah Al Salami, DCA chairman in Fujairah; Dr Ghanim Obaid Al Hajri, DCA Director-General in Sharjah; Abdul Aziz Abdullah Al Zaabi, Director-General of Real Estate Bank, Abu Dhabi; Major-General Khalid Abdullah Abu Al Ainain, Commander of the Air Force, Air Defence; Abdullah Saeed Al Hamli, Assistant Under-Secretary of DCA, Abu Dhabi; and Mohammad Ghanim Al Ghaith, Director-General of the GCAA.

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