Nicaragua airlines upgraded

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has upgraded Nicaraguan carriers from Category 2 to Category 1 in their International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA), due to that nation’s compliance with the International Civil Aviation Authority’s regulations.

The FAA IASA category system ranks nations as either Category 1 or Category 2 based on their safety procedures and safety records. With the Category 2 rating (in place since 1994), Nicaraguan carriers could not introduce new routes to or from the US. A Category 1 rating means that Nicaraguan carriers now may fly US routes and create code-shares with US airlines.

A description of IASA requirements and a list of nations and their ratings can be found at www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/iasa; click on “Results (MS Excel)” to download the file.