FAA Gives Trinidad and Tobago IASA Rating of Cateory 2

WASHINGTON- The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) today announced that Trinidad and
Tobago does not comply with international safety standards set
by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), thus giving
the country a Category 2 rating following a reassessment of the
country's civil aviation authority. Trinidad and Tobago was
previously rated Category 1.

The government of Trinidad and Tobago has indicated its desire to
correct the issues identified as a result of the FAA reassessment.
The FAA will continue to remain engaged with the civil aviation
authority of Trinidad and Tobago and will periodically review the
situation.

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
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 inspections, 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.