FAA IASA Rating Category I

[rwy]

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Department
of Transportation's Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) today announced
that Poland meets international
standards for aviation safety and has
been awarded a Category 1 rating.
Poland was previously rated Category
2.

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

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
International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) safety standards,
not FAA regulations.

Countries with air carriers that fly
to the United States 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
United States or have requested such
rights.

Specifically, the FAA determines
whether a foreign civil aviation
authority has an adequate
infrastructure for international
aviation safety oversight as defined
by ICAO standards. The basic elements
that the FAA considers necessary
include: 1) laws enabling the
appropriate government office to adopt
regulations necessary to meet the
minimum requirements of ICAO; 2)
current regulations that meet those
requirements; 3) procedures to carry
out the regulatory requirements; 4)
air carrier certification, routine
inspection, and surveillance programs,
and 5) organizational and personnel
resources to implement and enforce the
above.

The FAA has established two ratings
for the status of these civil aviation
authorities at the time of the
assessment: (1) does comply with ICAO
standards, (2) does not comply with
ICAO standards.

.Category 1. Does Comply with ICAO
Standards: A civil aviation authority
has been assessed by FAA inspectors
and has been found to license and
oversee air carriers in accordance
with ICAO aviation safety standards.

.Category 2. Does Not Comply with ICAO
Standards: The FAA assessed this
country's CAA and determined that it
does not provide safety oversight of
its air carrier operators in
accordance with the minimum safety
oversight standards established by
ICAO. This rating is applied if one or
more of the following deficiencies are
identified: (1) the country lacks laws
or regulations necessary to support
the certification and oversight of air
carriers in accordance with minimum
international standards; (2) the CAA
lacks the technical expertise,
resources, and organization to license
or oversee air carrier operations; (3)
the CAA does not have adequately
trained and qualified technical
personnel; (4) the CAA does not
provide adequate inspector guidance to
ensure enforcement of, and compliance
with, minimum international standards;
and (5) the CAA has insufficient
documentation and records of
certification and inadequate
continuing oversight and surveillance
of air carrier operations. This
category consists of two groups of
countries.

.One group is countries that have air
carriers with existing operations to
the United States at the time of the
assessment. While in Category 2
status, carriers from these countries
will be permitted to continue
operations at current levels under
heightened FAA surveillance. Expansion
or changes in services to the United
States by such carriers are not
permitted while in Category 2,
although new services will be
permitted if operated using aircraft
wet-leased from a duly authorized and
properly supervised U.S. carrier or a
foreign air carrier from a Category 1
country that is authorized to serve
the United States using its own
aircraft.

.The second group is countries that do
not have air carriers with existing
operations to the United States at the
time of the assessment. Carriers from
these countries will not be permitted
to commence service to the United
States while in Category 2 status,
although they may conduct services if
operated using aircraft wet-leased
from a duly authorized and properly
supervised U.S. carrier or a foreign
air carrier from a Category 1 country
that is authorized to serve the United
States with its own aircraft. No other
difference is made between these two
groups of countries while in Category
2.

The FAA has assisted civil aviation
authorities with less than acceptable
ratings by providing technical
expertise, assistance with nspections,
and training courses. The FAA hopes to
work with other countries through ICAO
to address non-compliance with
international aviation safety
oversight standards.

The FAA will continue to release the
results of safety assessments to the
public as they are completed. First
announced in September 1994, the
ratings are part of an ongoing FAA
program to assess all countries with
air carriers that operate to the
United States.

www.faa.gov/apa/pr/pr.cfm?id=1816