DGCA grapples with technical void at top

The operational meltdown by IndiGo, India’s largest airline, in the first week of December has brought back to the fore the need for experienced specialists running the country’s aviation regulator, rather than letting it stay a revolving door for the government’s bureaucrats.

- Dipali Banka

Experts have raised concerns that ten generalist officials have served at the top office at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in the last 17 years—all serving or retired bureaucrats from the government's elite Indian Administrative Service, or IAS, cadre, and lacking specialist knowledge critical in running a sector like aviation.

The last non-IAS officer to head the DGCA was Kanu Gohain, a technocrat who rose through the ranks of the aviation regulator to the top job before retiring in 2008. Since then, all 10 director generals have been bureaucrats, including Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, who took over in January.

In early December, IndiGo cancelled more than 4,500 flights due to a pilot shortage, failing to meet new DGCA regulations capping pilots flying hours from midnight to 6am. A nationwide uproar prompted the aviation ministry and DGCA to launch an investigation, slash IndiGo's daily flights by 10%, and demand explanations from IndiGo chief executive officer (CEO) Pieter Elbers and the airline's chief operating officer Isidre Porqueras.

While the IndiGo cancellations seem to have been a case of mismanagement by the airline, the role of ministry of civil aviation and DGCA came under the lens for lapses.