Quote Panama Jack:
Would be interesting what the FAA's IASA makes of some of these relationships.
Quote S.F.L.Y:
It's not IASA but EASA.
No, I really did mean IASA:
International Aviation Safety Assessments (IASA) Program
The FAA’s IASA program focuses on a country's ability, not the individual air carrier, to adhere to international standards and recommended practices for aircraft operations and maintenance established by the United Nation's technical agency for aviation, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). These audits are limited to civil aviation authorities of countries with existing air carrier service to the U.S., or authorities of foreign air carriers wanting to start services to the U.S.
The UAE is subject to these audits as there are a couple of UAE flag carriers operating to the United States.
In the past the FAA has hung a few countries up to dry over concerns that their CAA's are unable to provide sufficient oversight. The UAE appears to have an interesting situation where often the same people running the airlines are also the Regulator. This would be considered a "conflict of interest" in other parts of the world.