DGCA looks to expand its footprint

“With an aim to monitor aviation activities, by December the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) will be functional at six more places, including Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Agartala, Amritsar, Nagpur and Dehradun,” an official said on Friday.

India’s aviation regulator will soon open offices in six more cities to increase surveillance of air safety in addition to the 14 cities where it currently operates, officials said.It will also recruit additional staff to boost regulatory oversight, they said.

The maximum number of snags was reported by Air India (184), followed by IndiGo (98), SpiceJet (77), Go First (50), Vistara (40) and AirAsia India (14). (Reuters)

“With an aim to monitor aviation activities, by December the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) will be functional at six more places, including Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Agartala, Amritsar, Nagpur and Dehradun,” an official said on Friday.

Currently, the directorate has offices in New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Kanpur, Patiala, Patna, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Bhopal, Hyderabad and Kochi. “The Hyderabad subregional office is also planned to be upgraded to a regional office,” the official said, declining to be named.

The regulator is also working to enhance scrutiny on airlines staff, officials said.

As many as 478 technical glitches were reported between July 1, 2021, and 30 June, 2022, government data show. The maximum number of snags was reported by Air India (184), followed by IndiGo (98), SpiceJet (77), Go First (50), Vistara (40) and AirAsia India (14).

“The aim to come up with additional offices in six new places is to monitor, report and improve on a local level, thus ensuring faster action taken in case an issue arises or in case of any untoward situation,” he said, seeking anonymity.

“There are some locations that have seen increased passenger air traffic, resulting in increased aircraft movement,” he said. “Hence, it is necessary that these locations are inspected from regional offices and not from the headquarter in Delhi. Hence, there is a need to open new offices.”

Foreign auditors, including the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the US Federal Aviation Administration, have in past audits pointed out the directorate is understaffed and lacks adequately trained workforce for surveillance. The regular aims to recruit around 1,000 officers by 2032.

“ In order to ensure the DGCA’s presence at more places in the country, a proposal was sent to the ministry of finance, post which a study was conducted on an estimation of manpower,” the second official said. “It was after the study that 426 posts were approved for 2022-25 and an additional 600 posts will be created from 2026-32.”