DGCA fills up key 18 posts to plug crunch
The DGCA has promoted 18 officers to Deputy Director General to address staff shortages and strengthen aviation safety amid ongoing vacancies.
The civil aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has promoted 18 senior officers to the post of Deputy Director General (DDG) — a move aimed at strengthening its top technical and air safety leadership amid persistent staff shortages across critical divisions.
“With these promotions, all the vacant posts of DDG are now full in the DGCA,” an official confirmed to HT. “Some of these posts have been lying vacant since 2023,” he said.
According to an October 31 office order, seven of the promoted officers were serving as director of airworthiness; two of them as director of air safety, three director of aircraft engineering and six director of Operations (Ops).
The promotions come against the backdrop of continuing vacancies across the DGCA’s technical cadre.
Hindustan Times reported on July 19, nearly half of the regulator’s sanctioned technical posts, including those in airworthiness, flight operations, and aerodrome safety, have remained vacant for years, affecting inspection and oversight functions.
These appointments are expected to strengthen India’s aviation safety oversight and come months after the civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu told Parliament on July 21, that DGCA would recruit 190 people by the end of October.
The office order, seen by HT, notes that these appointments are effective from the date the officers assume charge.
While these promotions mark progress in filling long-pending posts, senior officials acknowledged that overall staffing at DGCA remains stretched.
The civil aviation ministry along with the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) are working to expedite appointments to strengthen DGCA’s technical capacity, especially in light of India’s expanding aviation market and increased oversight demands from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Recently, the UPSC selected 42 candidates for appointment as Assistant Directors (AD) of operations in the aviation regulator in a large-scale recruitment in four years, who will start working by the end of November. The recommendations were made against 51 advertised vacancies, according to the final list published by the UPSC on October 15.
