Aviation boom outpaces safety net, warns Parliamentary panel

India’s aviation boom is racing far ahead of its safety net, a parliamentary committee has warned, cautioning that aircraft are being inducted faster than airports can expand, a dangerous mismatch that is “straining safety margins and degrading service quality.”

The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, chaired by JD(U) MP Sanjay Kumar Jha, on Wednesday tabled a report that paints a troubling picture of regulatory paralysis at a time when the skies are getting busier than ever. It called for a National Capacity Alignment Plan to ensure that airport infrastructure keeps pace with fleet expansion.

Equally stark was the finding on manpower. Nearly half the sanctioned posts at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), 510 of the 1,063, lie vacant. “This deficit is not a mere administrative statistic; it is a critical vulnerability that exists at the very heart of India’s safety oversight system, occurring precisely at a time when the sector's unprecedented growth demands more, not less, regulatory vigilance and capacity,” the report warned.

The panel described the shortage as “an existential threat to the integrity of India’s aviation safety system” and demanded a time-bound plan to grant DGCA both financial and administrative autonomy. 

It said the crisis was rooted in “an ineffective recruitment model” that had never been corrected despite repeated red flags. The civil aviation ministry, however, maintains that direct recruitment by DGCA is not being considered.

The report went further, pointing to a “significant and growing backlog of unresolved safety findings,” which it said exposed a critical weakness in the post-surveillance rectification process. 

“Concerns also exist about audit quality due to a lack of qualified DGCA staff and airlines prioritising profiteering over immediate maintenance,” the committee added. It recommended time-bound closure of all safety deficiencies, with tougher enforcement and financial penalties for non-compliance.

The committee’s scrutiny was not limited to airports and airlines. In the wake of a series of helicopter crashes, it urged a uniform national framework for all state-operated helicopter services and mandatory terrain-specific training for pilots.

“This is prompted by a series of accidents in high-risk environments managed by state-level agencies with limited central oversight, revealing a regulatory ambiguity that creates unacceptable safety gaps,” it stated.

Recurring high-risk events such as runway incursions, bird strikes and engine failures also came under sharp focus. The report called for root-cause analysis of every such incident and specific remedial programmes. 

“Key safety targets for events like runway incursions are consistently being exceeded, indicating that the current incident review process is failing to translate lessons learned into effective operational changes,” it noted.

Finally, the committee stressed the need for cultural change within aviation safety management, seeking a legally-backed whistleblower protection framework. “This is to counter a punitive culture that deters the open reporting of errors,” it said, noting that DGCA’s voluntary reporting system requires firmer guarantees.

The report, tellingly, makes no mention of the Air India crash of June 12 that killed 260 people.