For much of 2024, the press focused on an issue that few people knew about but many found concerning: the aviation safety audit conducted by the United States. Since the end of 2023, our team at the Council of Captains (a nonprofit organization made up of Dominican-born captains working for North American airlines) had been warning that the country would come under scrutiny from an audit by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), due to the increased risk in the Dominican Republic’s air operations.
At first, the government denied that such a thing was likely and said that, if it were to happen, they would be ready for the audit. Behind closed doors, however, government officials admitted that the situation was critical, and measures began to be taken to prepare the country for the visit.
The FAA carries out these audits on countries that operate flights to the United States as a secondary verification process alongside the work performed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The results of these audits are measured using a simple classification system:
- Category 1: A State complies with ICAO operational safety standards.
- Category 2: A State does not comply with ICAO operational safety standards.
If it is determined that a country does not comply, the United States begins a process that can prohibit airlines from that country from flying into U.S. territory, and the FAA imposes close operational oversight on that country’s air operators wishing to fly to the United States.
When the letter from the U.S. requesting the audit finally arrived, the government changed its narrative, saying these were “normal audits” conducted “from time to time,” even though the FAA itself explains on its website that only an initial audit is routine, and that subsequent audits occur only when it is determined that an aviation system has significantly increased its operational risk. In the end, after a full-scale government effort (even President Abinader had to become involved), the country managed to pass the audit, although significant weaknesses remained unresolved.
It is important to note that the FAA audit only seeks to verify whether a country complies with international operational safety standards. In other words, if a country like the Dominican Republic has not only claimed compliance but has also presented itself as a regional “benchmark” for such compliance, why would there be concern or diplomatic efforts by the government to ensure it passed the audit?
New ICAO Audit
Unlike the FAA, ICAO does conduct periodic audits of its member states, and these are broader in scope than the FAA audits. In ICAO’s case, the review covers not only operational safety but also the entire structure of a country’s civil aviation system.
Unlike the FAA, ICAO does not impose a specific penalty on countries that receive a low score in its audits, as the FAA does with its category system. What ICAO does establish is a score based on 100% compliance, which is then published along with the rest of the audit findings (to preserve diplomatic relations, the FAA only publishes the final decision and privately delivers the audit findings to the country involved).
It is precisely this transparency factor from ICAO that could bring negative consequences for the country. A low score on the audit could raise new suspicions from the United States and the European Union regarding the safety of the Dominican aviation system.
Once again, the State has begun a preparation process for this audit, which is expected to begin early next year, with the first results scheduled to be published in mid-2027. Let us hope that the authorities do not repeat the mistakes of the past by focusing only on passing the audit instead of truly strengthening the system as a whole.
