A lot has been peddled
around on the granting of category 1 status to Kenya by the US. There seems to
be a huge cap of information on what this exactly means and to whom the status
was granted. This is a brief explanation of the same.
Under the
International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) Program, the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) determines whether another country’s oversight of its air carriers that
operate, or seek to operate, into the US, or codeshare with a US air carrier,
complies with safety standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
A country’s oversight over its aviation industry is done by a designated civil aviation
authority, and in Kenya, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA).
Codesharing is an
aviation business arrangement where two or more airlines share the same flight.
Sharing, in this sense, means that each airline publishes and markets the
flight under its own airline designator and flight number as part of its
published timetable or schedule.
The IASA program is administered by the FAA Associate
Administrator for Aviation safety (AVS), Flight Standards Service (AFS),
International Programs and Policy Division.
In 1991, AFS began to formulate a method to
address foreign air transportation safety concerns. As a result, the IASA
Program was formally established in 1992, with the purpose of ensuring that all
foreign air carriers operating to or from the U.S., or codesharing with a U.S.
carrier, are properly certificated and subject to safety oversight provided by
a competent Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in accordance with ICAO standards.
The
FAA conducts this assessment under the provisions of the Chicago Convention and
applicable air transport agreements. Article 6, Scheduled Air Services, of the
Chicago Convention states that, “no scheduled international air service may be
operated over international or into the territory of a contracting State,
except with the special permission or other authorization of that state, and in
accordance with the terms of such permission or authorization.”
The assessment focuses on the country’s ability to adhere to the international aviation
safety standards and recommended practices as contained in Annex 1(Personnel Licensing),
Annex 6(Operation of Aircraft) and Annex 8(Airworthiness of Aircraft). It’s not
about the ability of individual air carriers or airports. IASA does not
evaluate the safety compliance of any particular air carrier, nor does it
address aviation security, airports or air traffic management.
This category
rating done by the FAA applies only to services to and from the United States
and to codeshare operations when the code of a U.S. air carrier is placed on a
foreign carrier flight. It does not apply to a foreign carrier’s domestic
flights or to flights by that carrier between its homeland and a third country.
The assessment team looks at those flights only to the extent that they reflect
on the country’s oversight of operations to and from the United States and to codeshare
operations where a U.S. air carrier code is placed on a flight conducted by a
foreign operator.
ICAO Document
9734, Safety Oversight Manual, outlines 8 critical elements of an effective aviation
safety oversight authority which IASA focuses on to accomplish its assessment
program. The 8 critical elements are:
·
(CE-1)
Primary aviation legislation;
·
(CE-2)
Specific operating regulations;
·
(CE-3)
State civil aviation system and safety oversight functions;
·
(CE-4)
Technical personnel qualification and training;
·
(CE-5)
Technical guidance, tools and the provision of safety critical information;
·
(CE-6)
Licensing, certification, authorization, and approval obligations;
·
(CE-7)
Surveillance obligations; and
·
(CE-8)
Resolution of safety concerns.
FAA through the
AFS-50 organization thus maintains and publishes a country-by-country category
summary listing of IASA determinations. The result is either a category 1 or
category 2 listing.
Category
1 - the FAA has found that the country’s civil aviation authority licenses and
oversees air carriers in accordance with ICAO standards for aviation safety. To
achieve this rating, a country must demonstrate that it meets the ICAO
standards for each of the CEs.
Category 2 - the FAA has found that the
country’s civil aviation authority does not provide safety oversight of its air
carrier operators in accordance with minimum safety oversight standards established
by ICAO i.e., the safety oversight provided by a country’s CAA was found non-compliant in at least one of the CEs.
This rating (category 2) is applied if one or more of the
following deficiencies are identified:
- the
country lacks laws or regulations necessary to support the certification
and oversight of air carriers in accordance with minimum international
standards;
- the
CAA lacks the technical expertise, resources, and organization to license
or oversee air carrier operations;
- the
CAA does not have adequately trained and qualified technical personnel;
- the CAA does not provide adequate
inspector guidance to ensure enforcement of, and compliance with, minimum
international standards;
AND
- the
CAA has insufficient documentation and records of certification and
inadequate continuing oversight and surveillance of air carrier
operations.
Foreign air
carriers from countries with an IASA Category rating have the following
technical permissions regarding economic authority:
Ø Carriers from Category
1 countries are permitted to operate into the U.S. and/or codeshare with U.S.
air carriers in accordance with Department of Transportation (DOT) authorizations.
Ø Carriers from Category
2 countries that operate into the U.S. and/or codeshare with U.S. air carriers
have such services limited to levels that existed at the time of the assessment.
Ø Carriers from Category
2 countries that seek to initiate commercial service into the U.S. and/or seek
to codeshare with any U.S. air carrier are prohibited from initiating such
services.
It’s
instructive to note that the FAA reserves the right to remove a country from
the IASA summary listing and the AFS has a procedure for doing this when:
- after
a four year period, a country has no air carrier providing air transport
service to the U.S.,
- none of the country’s air carriers
participate in code-share arrangements with U.S. air carriers, and
- the
country’s CAA has ceased interacting with the FAA for an extended period of
time.
Therefore it behoves Kenya
through KCAA to continually review our compliance with ICAO standards and
recommended practices to maintain our status and position ourselves as the
leader in aviation industry in Africa and even globally.
There are currently 5
African countries in the IASA PROGRAM summary listing; Ghana in category 2 and Nigeria,
Egypt, Ethiopia and latest Kenya in category 1. This rating thus serves to
boost the country’s status as one among those with premier aviation industries.
It is also a boost on the economy as it provides new routes for the national
carrier apart from enhancing trade between Kenya and the US.
Note: There is a different categorization of
aerodromes (based on rescue & firefighting capacity and risk assessment),
and instrument runways for varied operations.
REFFRENCES
1. ICAO DOC 9734, Safety Oversight Manual
2. Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 46 / Friday, March 8,
2013 / Rules and Regulations
