WILLEMSTAD - Contrary to the situation in Curaçao, which has not returned to the so-called Category 1 after almost 9 years, Costa Rica has already been placed back in the highest category of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Costa Rica, as before Curaçao and a handful of other countries in the world, was reverted to the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) Category 2 in May 2019. This means that the country in question does not have an effective overview of its aviation sector. Costa Rica has now been re-awarded Category 1 status after successful assessments during the year 2020 and a meeting between the FAA and the Costa Rican aviation authority in January this year.
Difficult
Airlines that must operate from a country that has the FAA Category 2 are, among other things, not allowed to start new scheduled flights to destinations in the United States.
In particular, the now bankrupt InselAir suffered a lot from the measure, because it was limited by the Category 2 status in the start-up of potentially promising American routes. This made the airline decide to apply for a new Air Operator Certificate (AOC) in Aruba, which does have Category 1 status. The decision to start a second operation, in addition to the existing one on Curaçao, turned out to be a multi-million dollar adventure for Insel, which spent more than 2 years on acquiring the Aruban AOC.
Experts
Various experts have been brought in by Curaçao to guide the country back to the higher FAA category, including the Jamaican Oscar Derby and the Dutchman Hans de Jong. Both also left the Curaçao Civil Aviation Authority (CCAA), without achieving the coveted goal.
The support promised by the Netherlands for the operation, at the time of the troubled Inse Air, has not yet led to the desired result. According to unofficial reports, a mid-term evaluation necessary to regain the No. 1 Category was "dramatic".