NEW DELHI: India’s air security score has fallen by about 17 per cent in an audit conducted by the United Nation’s aviation watchdog, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), this newspaper has learnt.
The ICAO has voiced several concerns over the security of India’s airports and aviation infrastructure. India also recorded a dip in its air safety score after it audited the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India’s aviation safety regulator.
India’s poor performance in the security audit could potentially affect international expansion plans of India’s airlines, experts said.
India has got a score of 79.36 per cent in maintaining security requirements as per International standards, sources privy to the audit said.
This is the poorest score India has recorded in an ICAO audit in recent times. In the last such security audit by ICAO, in October 2015, India’s score was around 98 per cent.
Prior to this, ICAO had conducted an audit of Indian aviation security systems in February 2011 and at time India’s security score was 89 per cent. The latest ICAO rating is based on a sight inspection of the Chennai airport and an overall audit of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the aviation security regulator.
Sources said the audit was done on the basis of mainly three parameters—oversight security indicator, compliance indicator and protocol questions.