Over 10,500 Posts Vacant Across Key Civil Aviation Regulatory Bodies
More than 10,500 posts are lying vacant across key civil aviation regulatory bodies in India, according to data submitted in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. The Ministry of Civil Aviation shared this in response to a question by Member of Parliament Dr Medha Vishram Kulkarni.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has 823 vacancies out of 1,644 sanctioned posts, while the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has 230 vacancies against 598 posts. The largest shortfall is in the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which oversees a vast network of airports and air traffic operations, with 9,477 posts out of 25,730 remaining vacant.
This puts the total number of vacant posts across the three agencies at more than 10,500, with DGCA and BCAS accounting for over 1,000 vacancies in regulatory and security oversight roles alone.
However, the ministry clarified that several of these posts were recently created as part of ongoing capacity expansion.
Between 2022 and 2024, the DGCA created 441 new jobs, including 426 technical posts, while BCAS added 84 new operational posts this year. Additionally, the AAI created 840 new positions for Air Traffic Controllers in its latest recruitment drive.
According to the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Murlidhar Mohol, the shortage has not impacted the functioning of these organisations. He added that recruitment processes are being actively pursued. The ministry attributed delays to factors such as inadequate response to advertisements, non-joining of selected candidates, and eligibility issues in promotion channels.
To bridge the immediate gap, short-term contractual hiring is being used as a solution.
Despite the large number of vacancies, the ministry said no internal audit or expert review has found any adverse impact on enforcement or operations due to staffing gaps.
This comes in the backdrop of the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, in which 241 people onboard the aircraft were killed, and only one survived.
On June 12, AI171 flight took off from Ahmedabad airport for London's Gatwick, but the aircraft - Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner - crashed a few seconds after taking off, killing all but one passenger. The plane crashed into a building close to the airport, and a total of 260 people died in the incident, marking one of India's deadliest aircraft accidents in recent history.
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