India addresses aviation staffing shortages

29 Sep 2023 CW Team

Apart from the ten positions at AERA, 24 out of the 27 existing job vacancies have been filled, and the remaining three are in the process of being filled. This follows criticism aimed at the ministry and aviation regulator for the insufficient staffing levels on the ground.

Indian domestic air traffic has returned to normalcy, with August marking the sixth consecutive month of surpassing pre-Covid levels. However, the severe shortage of ground handling staff, exacerbated by pandemic-related layoffs, led to significant operational challenges at major airports like Delhi and Mumbai. Industry experts also attributed reported incidents and snags to the unavailability of licensed aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs) required for aircraft inspections and spot checks.

As India's demand for air travel continues to surge, on its way to becoming the world's third-largest aviation market, the need for additional staff, both in the air and on the ground, has become crucial.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) oversees air transport services within and to/from India, ensuring compliance with civil air regulations, maintaining air safety standards, and overseeing aviation personnel licensing and training. On the other hand, the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA) is an independent regulatory body responsible for economic oversight of airports in the country.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is a statutory body tasked with managing, developing, and operating airports, as well as undertaking airport infrastructure development and providing air navigation services.

Real Estate

05 Dec 2025

RBI Rate Cut Boosts Confidence Across Housing Market

Industry Context and Market DynamicsThe real estate industry has welcomed the RBI’s rate cut as a timely boost to affordability and demand. With home prices having risen steadily across major markets, even a marginal reduction in interest rates meaningfully strengthens purchasing power, especially for first-time and mid-income buyers.Ashish Jerath, President – Sales & Marketing, Smartworld Developers, observes:“The RBI’s 25-basis-point cut, bringing the repo rate down to 5.25%, is a timely boost for the real estate sector. Lower interest rates reduce borrowing costs, enabling homeb..

BMC Resumes Rs 170 Billion Road Works, Targets 80 per cent By Jan 2026

Following the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon in October, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has restarted work on 645 roads—covering 297.49 kilometres—under its large-scale concretisation programme. Data shows that more than 60 per cent of the resumed works are located in the western suburbs. Officials said the civic body aims to complete concretisation on 80 per cent of the roads where fresh work has begun by January 2026. Launched in 2022, the Rs 170 billion project seeks to concretise 700 kilometres of roads across Mumbai. All civil works were halted during the monsoon ..

India Pushes Digital Shift In Urban Land Mapping

The Department of Land Resources (DoLR) under the Ministry of Rural Development has convened a National Symposium on NAKSHA – the National Geospatial Knowledge-based Land Survey of Urban Habitations – to advance India’s transition to modern, technology-driven land mapping. Speaking at the inaugural session, Secretary Manoj Joshi underscored the urgent need to move revenue departments away from outdated, tape-based methods and rough hand-drawn sketches. He stressed that adopting latitude–longitude-based digital mapping and GIS-linked registration systems is essential for economic stabi..