India, US to sign Aviation Safety pact

New Delhi, Nov 16: In a move that could open up a huge market abroad for indigenously developed aeronautical products, India and the US would Thursday formalise a Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) to provide for airworthiness certification of these items.

"BASA would encourage indigenous aircraft and aeronautical products industry and the US acceptance of Indian products would help their global acceptance," official sources said today.

At the India-US Aviation Summit here tomorrow, the two sides would sign the Implementation Procedures for Airworthiness (IPA) which provides for airworthiness technical cooperation between the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and its Indian counterpart Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The IPA would address specific areas such as design approvals, production activities, export airworthiness approval, post-design approval activities and technical cooperation.

The BASA was initialled in July this year by Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi and FAA Administrator J Randolph Babbitt, weeks after it was approved by the Union Cabinet.

BASA, the sources said, would immensely benefit the nascent aircraft manufacturing industry in India and spur trade in aviation products between the two sides.

Aerospace products made in India, which are to be exported, would be inspected and certified by. The FAA would be the certification authority on the US side.

PTI