By Allison Lampert
MONTREAL (Reuters) -India will require more government oversight as the country’s airlines take delivery of thousands of planes and its fast-growing market is creating openings for new players, the government’s aviation safety chief told Reuters.
India is looking at “more responsibility, more safety oversight, more manpower,” with the number of commercial jets in the country nearly doubling over the last decade and with another 2,000 aircraft on order, director general of civil aviation Faiz Ahmed Kidwai said in an interview on the sidelines of the U.N. aviation agency’s triennial assembly in Montreal.
India is one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets, but the June crash of an Air India jetliner has intensified scrutiny of safety standards.
India also faces pilot shortages and a parliamentary committee recently warned that insufficient labor at the air safety regulator potentially jeopardises safety. In July, the regulator said it found 263 safety-related lapses at the country’s airlines.
While the country’s aviation market is dominated largely by two airlines, IndiGo and Air India, travel demand is creating the opportunity for new players.
“What we feel is that there is scope for more airlines because the way the sector is growing we need more players,” Kidwai said.
“If more carriers come, yes, they’ll have an opportunity.”
A record 174 million Indian domestic and international passengers flew in 2024, although that still pales in comparison to the 730 million passengers in China, International Air Transport Association data show.
The Air India plane crash in June, which left 260 people dead in the worst aviation disaster in a decade, has overshadowed India’s rapid rise as an aviation hub.
A preliminary investigation report released earlier by the Indian government showed pilot confusion in the cockpit shortly before the crash after the plane’s fuel engine switches had almost simultaneously flipped from run to cutoff just after takeoff.
India’s Supreme Court on Monday asked the government to respond to a plea seeking an independent investigation into the crash. Kidwai said the investigation remains under the purview of India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, in line with international protocols.
(Additional reporting by Aditya Kalra)
