India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has taken action against 19 safety-related violations by airlines so far in 2025, Parliament was informed on Monday.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol presented data on airline non-compliance, enforcement actions, safety budgets and staffing levels across key aviation institutions. The information was furnished in response to a question raised in the Lok Sabha.
The minister said the DGCA has significantly stepped up regulatory enforcement over the past five years. Data shared with Parliament showed a steady rise in actions taken against scheduled airlines, from two cases in 2021 to seven in 2022, ten in 2023 and 22 in 2024. In the current year, enforcement action has already been taken in 19 cases.
According to the minister, regulatory measures imposed by the DGCA include financial penalties, suspension of approvals or authorisations, and issuance of official warnings, depending on the nature and severity of violations.
The violations recorded span a wide range of operational and safety lapses. These include non-compliance with mandatory breath analyser tests for flight crew, shortcomings in flight data monitoring systems and instances of unauthorised access to aircraft cockpits.
Other violations involved inadequate quality assurance audits, misuse of flight simulators without DGCA approval, deployment of crew members without completing mandatory training and breaches of prescribed Flight Duty Time Limitations.
The regulator also flagged multiple maintenance-related deficiencies. These included failure to adhere to approved maintenance procedures, shortcomings identified during spot checks and cases where aircraft were operated with expired or unserviceable emergency equipment.
The minister informed Parliament that the government has been allocating funds to strengthen the DGCA’s safety and regulatory oversight capabilities. Details of the annual budget allocation for the regulator were provided in an annexure accompanying the reply.
Mohol also outlined the staffing position across four major aviation bodies, the DGCA, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), and the Air Traffic Controllers cadre. He said information on sanctioned posts and existing vacancies in each organisation had been shared with Parliament.
The disclosure of vacancy figures was aimed at highlighting manpower gaps that could impact safety oversight and regulatory effectiveness in the aviation sector. The government, the minister said, continues to monitor staffing and compliance issues to ensure adherence to safety standards across the industry.
