Lawmakers sound alarm on aviation safety gaps in India

International

PASSENGER safety in India is at risk because the country’s aviation regulator lacks the staff to do its job, a parliamentary committee has cautioned in a new report.

According to the BBC, a parliamentary panel reviewing systemic risks in the sector found that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is struggling with “profound and persistent” staff shortages. The panel concluded that the regulator, “in its current form, is not in a position to discharge its duties for which it was established.”

Only 553 of the DGCA’s 1,063 sanctioned posts are filled, leaving nearly half vacant. Lawmakers described this as an “existential threat” to the integrity of India’s safety system, criticizing the regulator’s hiring process as “slow and inflexible” and recommending “full financial and administrative autonomy” to fix the problem. The civil aviation ministry recently admitted to the staffing shortfall but insisted it had “not impacted the functioning of DGCA.”

The report also highlighted concerns over air traffic controllers, warning that rapid growth in air travel has left them under “immense pressure.” Controllers at major airports often work “prolonged and fatiguing duty schedules,” it said, with some insufficiently trained to cope.

“The current mismatch between recruitment and training capacity, coupled with operational overload, poses a direct and ongoing threat to airspace safety,” the panel added.

Lawmakers pointed to recurring high-risk incidents such as runway incursions and bird strikes, urging mandatory root-cause analyses for each.

Runway incursions — the “incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle or person” on protected landing or take-off areas — were called “high-consequence events” with direct collision risks. India logged 14.12 incursions per million runway movements in 2024, well above the target of 9.78.

The panel further recommended stronger reporting systems aligned with “Just Culture,” which encourages accountability while acknowledging human error. It said the DGCA’s confidential reporting channel lacks adequate protections.

India, now the world’s third-largest aviation market, has seen rapid growth through budget carriers, new airports and rising demand. But that expansion has brought mounting challenges for regulators, airlines and infrastructure.

The June 12 Air India crash that killed 260 people has already intensified scrutiny of the sector, though the parliamentary report does not mention the tragedy.

In July, DGCA officials defended India’s record, saying the country has “consistently performed better than the world average” in International Civil Aviation Organization safety metrics, with only two exceptions since 2010.

Parliamentary reports are not binding, but they have influenced aviation policy in the past. In its report, the BBC stated that the civil aviation ministry and the DGCA have been contacted for comment.(MyTVCebu)