Manila: The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has cancelled next month's audit of safety procedures of private airlines in the Philippines because of allegations that that the country's regulatory body is politicised and could not impose reforms on private firms, a senior official said.
According to Alfonso Cusi, Director-General of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAC), the ICAO has informed them that the audit set for December 7 has been suspended to an undetermined date.
He said the ICAO cited the recent appointment of CAAC officials by President Benigno Aquino as a form of political interference in a regulatory body that should impose professionalism and reforms on the country's aviation industry.
"The present unclear political announcements of a change in senior management could create, in ICAO's opinion, an indeterminable future of professional processes within CAAC," said Cusi, a former general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority and the Philippine Ports Authority.
Cusi, reportedly a close ally of former president Gloria Arroyo, was named the first director-general of the CAAC, a new regulatory body which merged the functions of the defunct Air Transportation Office and the Civil Aeronautics Board.
Noting the impact of ICAO's rating suspension, Cusi said: "Without the ICAO audit, the FAA (US Federal Aviation Administration) and EU (European Union) will not act upon any request of the Philippines for reinstatement to Category 1 and removal from the blacklist (of countries deemed to have unsafe aviation)."
International standards
In 2008, the FAA prohibited Philippine airlines from landing at US airports because of concerns that safety procedures did not meet international standards. Europe imposed the same ban last March.
US and EU aviation regulators observe ICAO guidelines.
Further delay of the much needed audit from an international regulatory body could dampen the Philippine aviation's aim to be removed from the FAA and EU lists, said Cusi.
When the FAA downgraded the Philippines from "Category 1" to "Category 2", the Philippine Congress passed a law that called for the creation of the CAAC to regulate the private aviation industry.