To Cope With Growing Air Traffic, Aviation Body's Big Expansion Plan

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is all set with expansion plans to cope with growing air traffic in the country.

"We have already discussed the expansion plan to upgrade and strengthen DGCA. We are also planning to open six new regional offices in Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Agartala, Amritsar, Nagpur, and Dehradun," said Arun Kumar, Director General of DGCA.

He added that these offices will soon start operating as air traffic is growing in these cities rapidly. At present, DGCA is at 14 places, and after expansion, the figure will reach 19 in terms of geographical locations.

He further informed that DGCA is also recruiting additional staff to boost regulatory oversight.

"There are around 700 personnel of DGCA stationed at existing 14 locations. These personnel are air safety officers, aerodrome officers, engineers, etc," he said.

We have got sanction for 400 new posts that are to be recruited through UPSC soon. These posts are technical, he said.

"In a long expansion plan, i.e. 2030, DGCA will add 1,000 more people to match up with the demand and strengthen the organization," he said.

India is the world's fastest-growing aviation market, and recently, over 1,200 planes have been ordered by various Indian carriers. These planes will be added in phases.

In 2022, a total of 546 technical snags were reported by various airlines as per the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

DGCA ensures that the airlines continue to comply with the regulatory requirements against which they have been initially approved through a system of surveillance, audits, spot checks, night surveillance, etc and in the case of non-compliance, DGCA ensures that rectification is done by the airlines/maintenance organisation.

DGCA initiates enforcement action against organisations/personnel in case violations are found, which may include warning, suspension, and cancellation besides imposition of financial penalty.
 

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