SANCTIONS HAVE begun to bite at airlines in Latin American and Caribbean countries judged by the US Federal Aviation Administration to have inadequate safety oversights. An increasing number of carriers has been unable to put aircraft into service because bilateral agreements have been frozen by the USA until their safety oversights are improved.
Nine countries in the region have been labelled Category 2 by the FAA's International Aviation Safety Assessment programme, meaning that they are not in compliance with international safety-oversight standards (Flight Inter- national, 15-21 November). A Cat 2 rating means that new aircraft and routes cannot be added to operations into the USA.
Air Jamaica says that it has been unable to put into service the first two of six ex-Delta Air Lines A310s leased from Airbus, because of Jamaica's Cat 2 rating. Peru's Faucett has similarly been unable to place a leased A310 into service, while Colombia's ACES has been prevented from adding a third Boeing 727 to its US services.
The plans of Brazilian airline VASP to transfer A300s to newly privatised Lloyd Aero Boliviano and Ecuatoriana are jeopardised by Bolivia's and Ecuador's Cat 2 ratings. BWIA International Airlines' plans to re-equip with A321s could be endangered if Trinidad and Tobago's Cat 2 ranking is not rescinded before the first aircraft arrives in June 1996.
The FAA says that it is disappointed by the time it is taking countries to upgrade to Cat 1 (full compliance). "We expected six months, not two to three years," says associate administrator for regulation Tony Broderick. So far only El Salvador has upgraded. Colombia has been given until early 1996 to improve its safety oversight or receive a Cat 2 rating.
Robert Booth, of consultancy Aviation Management, says that governments in the region are beginning to realise that something must be done: "It is a government problem, and the FAA wants the airlines to put the heat on their governments," he says. He supports the FAA's intent, but believes that its implementation is unfair, as US airlines can continue to add aircraft and flights to countries whose airlines are blocked by a Cat 2 freeze.
Source: Flight International
