Are India’s skies safe? Air safety watchdog responds amid rising concerns

How sure the heaven of India is sure?

This is a question that many ask after the devastating india air crash of June, which killed at least 270 people. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to London dropped less than a minute after taking off from Ahmedabad airport in West India on June 12.

“The sky of India has always been sure – in the past and even today,” said Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, chief of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) – The India Security Regulator – in an interview with the BBC.

“If you look at the World Security Measures, such as those published by International Civil Aviation Organization (OCAI), which follow the number of accidents per million flights, India is still working better than the global average,” he said.

“There were only two years in the period 2010-2024 when we exceeded the world average – these are the years when the main accidents have occurred.”

In August 2020, the flight 1344 of Air India Express crashed after giving up a table track soaked in rain in Kozhikode, killing 21 people. A decade earlier, in May 2010, Dubai flight 812 exceeded the track in Mangalore and plunged into a throat, killing 158 people. The June Air India Air accident was the third type of this type in the country in 15 years.

Although such major accidents remain rare, recent titles have raised new concerns. Since a Delhi-Srinagar flight, which has reached severe turbulence, with increasing maintenance surveillance and training deficits, issues concerning air security are again to the point.

The last involved Spicejet, the fourth largest and longest company at low cost from low -cost airlines.

The newspaper Economic Times noted that the aviation regulator had recently summoned the airline leaders after a series of alarming results – not routine audits, but triggered by a British aeronautical company.

The newspaper reported that it had started earlier this year when two of Havilland Q400’s turboprop of Spicejet Q400 have shown premature propeller failures. The alert company alerted Dowty’s propellers, a British manufacturer led by Ge Aerospatial, which has found damage to the internal rolls of the propellers.

Each propeller has bearings with two breeds, or rings or tracks. In this case, the interior race has been damaged. Instead of attacking the deep cause, Spicejet “would have continued to apply more fat to the [entire] Unit instead of tackling the deep cause “. Frustrated by the lack of corrective measures, Dowty degenerated the problem directly to the aviation regulator of India, the newspaper reported.

The DGCA audit in April “revealed even more shortcomings, including the occurrences of taking problem,” according to the report.

Kidwai told BBC that the “problem of the propeller of turboprop had come to our attention through one of the Spicejet maintenance organizations”.

“We took it back with Spicejet and we made sure that they took corrective measures. We also discovered that senior management was not fully aware of the situation. We took measures against the various post holders who were supposed to ensure compliance with the manufacturer of original equipment and other regulations.

More recently, Reuters reported that the aviation watchdog reprimanded the Air India budget transporter in March for delaying the compulsory replacement of the engine part on an Airbus A320 and falsification of files to display compliance.

Air India Express told the news agency that it had recognized the error at the DGCA and undertaken “corrective measures and preventive measures”.

Kidwai told the BBC that the information in this case came “the self-declaration of the airline”.

“I would not tolerate it [the lapses]. But [at least] We started getting these reports. It came from the airline. Measures have been taken in this case. In our audits, we have forced our people to be more alert and to see if there is a laps of Laps and to bring it to our attention. “”

In May, an indigo flight from Delhi to Srinagar faced severe turbulence and hail about 45 minutes after takeoff.

The Airbus A321, carrying 222 passengers, would have encountered extreme vertical air currents – ascending currents followed by downstream currents – which dislodged the bins above and caused lesions of the nose. The crew said an emergency and landed safely in Srinagar without injury. The regulator launched an investigation, during which two pilots were anchored.

Kidwai told BBC that the regulator had now “refined” its directives for flying drivers in turbulent conditions.

For example, if there is an important cloud cover or a meteorological model which presents a risk – and “we have clearly defined what constitutes such a risk” – pilots are now required to take specific measures a number of nautical miles before reaching it, he said.

“This could include the detour, going around or taking other appropriate measures.”

Since 2020, Indian national carriers have reported 2,461 technical defects, according to federal data from the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Indigo represented more than half (1,288), followed by Spicejet with 633, and Air India and its subsidiary Air India expressed with 389 cases, in January 2025.

“The reporting of the airlines has increased. That’s good,” Kidwai said.

“I wouldn’t say that I am satisfied with that. But I see value in the growing culture of reports [snags]. It is much better that each problem is brought to the attention of the authorities than to be silent and to operate the plane. “”

Mr. Kidwai said that the number of flights increasing, it is important to “see if the execution time for flights is sufficient for [maintenance] check or not “.

Admittedly, regulator’s requests have grown up: India has become the third largest passenger aviation market in the world. However, in the past two years, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has faced budget discounts, reflecting a reduction in the financial priority for the sector.

Today, the country’s scheduled carriers operate nearly 850 planes – a significant increase compared to around 400 only ten years ago.

The number of air passengers has more than doubled since 2014-2015, going from 116 million to 239 million.

The number of commercial aerodromes has also experienced a substantial increase-against around 60-70 ten years ago to almost 130-140 today.

“In total, including the programmed and unscheduled operators, we now have 1,288 planes in operation. At the end of the decade, we will operate more than 2,000 planes,” said Kidwai. (Unprogrammed operators include charter airlines, private jet operators, air taxis and helicopter services.)

So, had the last Air India accident made the reputation of plane trips to India? Kidwai said the data had not stressed this.

“We have examined the data to assess whether it had an impact on national or international operations. There was no significant drop in traffic. At most, we observed a very marginal drop for a short period, affecting national and international flights, as well as some cancellations,” he told BBC.

“It is natural that people feel anxious after such incidents. But over time, as more clarity emerges and the situation is better understood, that anxiety tends to calm down. Time is a great healer.”