FAA Restores S. Korea’s Category 1 Safety Rating

Reversing an assessment it made in August, the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that South Korea now meets international air safety standards.

The FAA said reforms accomplished by South Korea since last summer have restored that nation’s FAA Category 1 rating.

The rating was downgraded to Category 2 in August after FAA inspectors found that South Korean civil aviation authorities had failed to provide the oversight needed to meet the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization.

“The assessments are not an indication of whether individual carriers are safe or unsafe,” the FAA said.

However, the FAA’s August ruling cast another cloud over Korean Air, the international carrier whose image was tarnished in 1997 when one of its Boeing 747 jumbo jets crashed in Guam, killing 228 of the 254 on board.

The National Transportation Safety Board blamed the crash on pilot error and inadequate pilot training. The board said ineffective oversight by the Korean Aviation Bureau contributed to the accident.

Under Category 2, Korean Air was permitted to continue its flights to Los Angeles and other U.S. cities, but the operations were under heightened FAA surveillance.

The FAA declined to detail South Korea’s shortcomings when it downgraded the rating last summer.

The FAA said only that Category 2 ratings are given to countries in which civil aviation authorities lack the regulations, qualified personnel, technical expertise, resources or documentation to meet international standards.