Context

The preliminary report from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on the Air India Boeing 787 crash in Ahmedabad (June 12, 2025), released a month later, raises serious questions about pilot decisions.
However, the broader concern lies in a systemic breakdown of trust within India’s aviation sector.

There is a recurring pattern where aviation professionals—pilots, engineers, and crew—face disproportionate accountability, while regulators, airlines, and oversight bodies avoid similar scrutiny.

India’s Aviation System: A Fragmented Framework

Multiple Actors, Complex Responsibilities

India’s aviation ecosystem operates through a network of stakeholders:

• Aircraft operations (airworthiness, maintenance, crew) → managed by airlines.
• Infrastructure and air traffic control → handled by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
• Regulation → enforced by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), under the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA).

Systemic Failures, Not Isolated Errors

Accidents rarely result from single lapses. Instead, per the Swiss Cheese Model, they emerge when multiple system-level weaknesses align.

Judicial Interventions and Regulatory Failures

Judiciary as a Safety Backstop

In rare cases, judicial interventions have prevented disasters—e.g., the 2018 Ghatkopar crash saw limited damage due to earlier court-imposed construction restrictions near Mumbai airport.

Mumbai remains a cautionary example, with:

• Over 5,000 vertical obstructions within a 4 km radius of the airport—violating Inner Horizontal Surface (IHS) norms.
• Continued rise in hazards despite Public Interest Litigations (PILs).

This reflects a failure of enforcement and potential misrepresentation by bodies like DGCA, AAI, airport operators, and MoCA. The judiciary, though proactive, remains dependent on technical data from these very institutions.

Policy Erosion and Regulatory Loopholes

Dilution of Safety Norms

• Pre-2008: Construction near airports was tightly regulated by the Aircraft Act and Statutory Order 988 (1988).
• Post-2008: A non-statutory committee began clearing unauthorised building heights via flawed aeronautical studies.
• By 2015, these obstructions affected radar and communication systems.

Instead of tightening oversight, the 2015 Rules legitimised this flawed committee by granting it statutory status.

Policy Evasion

• MoCA’s amendment limiting No-Objection Certificate (NOC) validity to 12 years does not mandate removal of illegal structures afterward.
• Even new airports like Navi Mumbai and Noida now suffer from obstruction-related runway safety issues.

Systemic Shortcomings in Key Operational Areas

1. Aircraft Design and Certification

• DGCA lacks technical capacity, depending heavily on foreign regulators.
• Evident during the 2017–18 Pratt & Whitney engine crisis affecting IndiGo, where Indian authorities failed to address early warnings.

2. Maintenance Practices

• Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (AMEs) face excessive workloads without regulated duty hours.
• Airlines bypass AMEs by delegating work to less qualified, lower-paid technicians, prioritising cost savings over safety.

3. Pilot Fatigue

• Flight Time Duty Limitations (FTDLs) are routinely breached.
• DGCA exemptions allow airlines to overwork pilots, increasing fatigue risks.
• Mandatory NOC requirement to change jobs limits career freedom, worsening mental stress and regulatory control.

4. Cabin Crew Undervalued

• Cabin crew responsibilities are being reduced to hospitality roles, disregarding their critical safety function in emergencies.

5. Air Traffic Management

• The AAI faces a major shortage of Air Traffic Controller Officers (ATCOs).
• Licensing reforms and duty-hour limits, recommended after earlier crashes, remain unimplemented.

6. Suppression of Whistle-blowers

• Whistle-blowers reporting safety issues are often targeted or silenced, allowing unsafe practices to continue unchecked.

Human Life and the Role of the Judiciary

Undervalued Human Life

India’s compensation practices in transport accidents (aviation, rail, road) reflect a low valuation of life—often just a few lakh rupees.
This enables both governments and corporations to rationalise underinvestment in safety.

Judicial Inertia

• Despite its constitutional role, the judiciary often defers to government expertise, even when regulators are at fault.
• Courts must move beyond compensation and demand proactive safety measures.

Conclusion: A Call for Urgent Reform

The Air India crash in Ahmedabad is not an isolated incident—it’s a symptom of deeper structural failure in India’s aviation system.

What Must Be Done

• Comprehensive reforms across:
• Regulatory accountability
• Mental health support for aviation personnel
• Strict enforcement of safety standards
• Judiciary, government, and airlines must act collaboratively to build a genuine safety culture.
• Safety must take precedence over bureaucratic shortcuts and corporate profit.