JAMAICA REMAINS IN CATEGORY ONE

From left to right: Mrs. Elsa-May Binns, Senior Director, Policy Planning and Evaluation, Col. Torrance Lewis, Director General, CAA; Minister Robert Pickersgill, Mr. Tony Kelly, Chairman, CAA;Lt. Col. Oscar Derby, Deputy Director Geneal, CAA at the Press Conference on Thursday, March 17, at the Ministry.

Consequent upon a review of Jamaica’s aviation sector on March 16, 2005, by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) the country remains in Category One and can now ‘move forward with confidence and vigour to enforce legislation and complete the re-certification of all aircraft operators’. So said Minister Robert Pickersgill at a Press Conference on Thursday, March 17, 2005 at the Ministry’s Corporate Office on Maxfield Avenue.

The news came against a background where over the past couple of months, much attention had been focused on the areas of air transport and aviation as the national airline had been undergoing some significant changes. The Jamaican aviation industry is constantly under the scrutiny of the international community, particularly the FAA of the USA.

In 1995, an audit of Jamaica’s aviation sector, conducted by the FAA saw the island placed in category two. An assessment conducted by the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO), in the same year confirmed that the Civil Aviation Department was not complying fully with international flight safety standards. This had negative implications for the island’s aviation sector.

As a result, in 1996, the Civil Aviation Authority was established and an extensive re-structuring of the Flight Safety Oversight operations carried out with the assistance of an implementation team. Legislation was later amended and standards developed to satisfy adequate safety oversight in accordance with standards laid down by ICAO.

The Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority was subsequently audited under the FAA’s International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme and Jamaica was given a Category One status in September 1997. This was with a proviso however that legislation would be fully revised to strengthen enforcement capabilities.

In December, 1990, ICAO conducted a Universal Safety Oversight Audit as part of its ongoing international audit activities. The subsequent follow-up audit in 2001 confirmed that Jamaica was meeting the standards except for the requirement to update the legislation.

About December, 2004 the CAA amended legislation which gave it more authority and independence and established a pecuniary system of punishment in which fines can be levied by the CAA without having to involve the courts. In fact, under these new regulations, aircraft operators must all be re-certified and a process has been established for this.

At the end of this period, the FAA conducted the audit and expressed satisfaction with the amended law and the revised Regulations but noted that procedures needed to be completed for some other areas and enforcement procedures and recording systems needed to be demonstrated.
Now that the island has retained its Category One Rating, efforts will be continued to cement regional co-operation through RASOS. Resources will be shared with smaller CARICOJM countries to ensure that Aviation Safety Oversight capabilities throughout the region are of the highest quality.