WILLEMSTAD, WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration FAA has adjusted its category listing. Instead of four years, a country with category status is now listed on the website for two years. This policy change has no consequences for Curaçao. The island has had Category 2 status for ten years now.
The U.S. aviation authorities established the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program in 1992 to serve as the means by which to determine whether another country's oversight of its airlines operating or seeking to operate in the United States or have codeshare with a U.S. airline is in compliance with safety standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO.
The FAA publishes a country-specific IASA Category Rating list on its website. This publication serves to notify the US traveling public of a country's compliance, Category 1 or Non-Compliance, Category 2) with ICAO standards.
The FAA's new policy lowers the removal benchmark for inactive countries, i.e. countries for which no operators fly to the United States or show a U.S. airline code from four to two years.
The Americans believe this change will help prevent the public from getting "a false sense of security" about Category 1 countries and will prevent what it calls "unfair penalties" for countries that have a Category 2 rating.