Aviation safety: Half of the passenger aircraft in India have had repeated defects   

India’s aviation sector has seen strong growth in recent years, but aircraft maintenance has not kept pace with that growth. Surveillance by regulatory authorities since January last year has found repeated defects in half of India’s 754 aircraft across major domestic carriers.

According to data provided by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the highest number of defects were found in Air India’s fleet, followed by Air India Express and IndiGo. The situation was similar even with SpiceJet and newcomer Akasa, as half their fleets were reported to have had repeated defects.     

IndiGo and Air India have recently faced a series of aircraft groundings because of safety related issues. The most recent being the grounding of Air India’s B787 Dreamliner over issues related to fuel control switches.   

The aviation industry was under scrutiny last year because of safety concerns after an Air India flight crashed in Ahmedabad in June, killing 260 people. That prompted the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to order a safety audit of its fleet. In December, IndiGo cancelled 5,689 flights due to operational challenges following the revised flight duty time limitations norm.

Vacancies

Concerns around aviation safety have also shone the spotlight on the regulatory ecosystem in the country. There are 2,745 vacant posts in various civil aviation regulatory and safety bodies, with 787 In the DGCA. This is because of the creation of 441 additional posts as part of the restructuring undertaken during 2022-2024, as per aviation ministry data.
In the Airports Authority of India (AAI), there are 1,667 vacancies pertaining to Direct Recruitment (executive) posts. The ministry said the AAI has expedited recruitment, redeployed staff at operationally sensitive airports, created additional posts in line with expanding airspace requirements, with such measures being continuously reviewed to ensure safe and uninterrupted civil aviation services.

There are 180 and 11 positions vacant in the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA), respectively. As BCAS and AERA are deputation-based organisations, vacancy circulars are issued periodically to fill posts in accordance with the prescribed norms.