THE Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) expects the Philippine aviation sector to regain its Category 1 status from the United States Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) within the year.

“We are hopeful that we will be able to get back the FAA’s Category 1 rating within the year or early next year,” Glicerio V. Sicat, DOTC undersecretary for civil aviation and railways, said.

Sicat said the upgrade of the country's aviation sector will allow local airlines to expand their capacity and increase the frequency of their flights to the U.S. and Europe.

The FAA downgraded the Philippines to Category 2 from Category 1 in 2008 after a safety audit conducted in November 2007 found some policies of the local aviation sector to be below international standard.

The European Union also raised significant safety concerns (SSCs) that resulted in the banning of Philippine carriers from landing in European airports.

The DOTC official said of the 22 actionable items identified by the FAA as safety concerns, only two remain unresolved.

These refer to the lack of qualified safety personnel and the absence of an integrated information technology (IT) system to modernize the sector’s database.

To address the issue on the lack of qualified technical personnel, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) hired 22 former pilots to serve as full-time Flight Standards Inspectorate Service (FSIS) inspectors.

Due to salary issues, very few pilots are willing to serve in government, Sicat said.

“Thankfully, these former but seasoned pilots, who are now being trained at the CAAP, are willing to share their experience and expertise as a way to serve the country,” he added.

To further assist the CAAP in its upgrading efforts, it also tapped the services of retired Brig. Gen. Tim Neel, a former FAA executive and the owner and managing director of Tim Neel & Associates, LLC.

Tim Neel & Associates is a company specializing in international aviation safety matters, including the assessment of aviation safety standards in government civil aviation authorities, international air carriers and airports.

Neel has helped a number of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean develop their aviation oversight programs. He recently worked in Ghana where he was able to help the local aviation authorities regain their Category 1 rating in just a few months.

“We believe he can do the same for the Philippines,” Sicat said, noting that Neel has already conducted a “gap analysis” of the country’s civil aviation sector to determine which areas need improvement.

Neel, according to the DOTC official, also provided CAAP with a software that will address one vital gap by enabling the quick retrieval of information. With this software, records pertaining to an aircraft’s inspection history can easily be retrieved.

This computerized system, which will be operational in about six months, is part of the efforts to modernize the IT infrastructure of CAAP.