Events from mid-2025 to early 2026 exposed deeper systemic concerns for India's aviation safety architecture.
The Centre on Tuesday appointed Vir Vikram Yadav as new Director General of Civil Aviation, replacing Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, who has been transferred as additional secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training.
Kidwai's tenure -- since January 2025 -- marked a turbulent period for India's aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), owing to a sequence of high-impact aviation crises, regulatory confrontations, and institutional scrutiny.
Events from mid-2025 to early 2026 exposed deeper systemic concerns for India's aviation safety architecture.
Air India crash investigation
The first major shock came with the Air India Flight 171 crash on June 12, 2025.
The Boeing 787-8, on its journey from Ahmedabad to London, crashed shortly after take off, killing around 260 people.
Key Points
- Centre appoints Vir Vikram Yadav as DGCA chief, replacing Faiz Ahmed Kidwai amid heightened scrutiny of aviation safety framework.
- Air India Flight 171 crash in June 2025 killed around 260 people, triggering audits that revealed nearly 100 safety violations.
- Implementation of stricter FDTL norms led to industry tensions, culminating in IndiGo cancelling about 4,500 flights due to pilot shortages.
- Multiple aviation incidents, including Baramati Learjet crash and Chatra air ambulance accident, exposed risks in non-scheduled operations.
- Parliamentary panel flags systemic fragilities, highlighting DGCA staffing shortages and recurring technical defects across commercial aircraft fleet.
The incident triggered a multi-agency probe and a detailed safety audit of Air India by the DGCA in July 2025, which flagged nearly 100 safety lapses.
These include serious violations related to pilot training, cabin crew deployment, and breaches of flight duty time limitations (FDTL).
Through the remaining 2025, the DGCA was simultaneously engaged in a prolonged and contentious overhaul of the FDTL norms.
The move to look into pilot duty and rest rules in the interest of safety met with strong resistance from airlines, while pilot bodies pushed for stricter enforcement, turning the issue into a sector-wide standoff.
The repeated delays and consultations highlighted the difficulty of enforcing safety reforms without disrupting airline operations.
IndiGo flight cancellations crisis
The tensions around FDTL and pilots' availability culminated in the IndiGo scheduling crisis beginning December 1, 2025, shortly after the revised norms were fully implemented in November 2025.
IndiGo, which had not ramped up pilot hiring in line with the stricter FDTL requirements, faced acute crew shortages, leading to the cancellation of nearly 4,500 flights over about 10 days.
The DGCA stepped in with temporary FDTL relaxations, fare caps, and close monitoring to stabilise operations amid one of the largest-ever operational disruptions in Indian aviation.
Aviation safety systemic concerns
The pressure extended to January 28 this year when a high-profile tragedy killed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, along with four others.
The accident took place after the chartered Learjet 45 plane crashed during a landing attempt at Baramati.
The aircraft, flying from Mumbai, went down just short of the runway amid poor visibility, with no survivors.
The political significance of the crash, involving one of the state's most powerful leaders, brought unprecedented attention to safety gaps in non-scheduled aviation operations, especially at smaller airfields with limited infrastructure.
This was followed by an air ambulance crash in Chatra, Jharkhand, on February 23, further underscoring risks in emergency and charter aviation.
It prompted the DGCA to tighten oversight of non-scheduled operators, including grounding aircraft and flagging operational and airworthiness concerns.
Against this backdrop, a parliamentary standing committee report tabled on March 25 brought together these incidents to argue that India's aviation safety challenges are systemic rather than episodic.
The panel cited the June 2025 Ahmedabad crash, the January 2026 Baramati tragedy, the February 2026 Chatra air ambulance crash, and the December 2025 mass cancellations as evidence of 'systemic fragilities'.
It recommended the creation of an independent high-level committee to conduct a root-cause analysis within 90 days.
The report also raised structural concerns within the regulator, noting that the DGCA was operating with 843 personnel against a sanctioned strength of 1,630.
This is a vacancy rate of 48.3 per cent.
It pointed to a DGCA audit of 754 commercial aircraft between January 2025 and February 2026, which found recurring technical defects in 377 planes.
This includes a significant number within Air India and Air India Express fleets.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff
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