There appears to be a confrontation of sorts building up between the Business Aircraft Operators Association (BAOA) and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). A three-year old body dedicated to promote business aviation in India, BAOA represents business aircraft and charter operators as also owners of maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities – in fact practically everyone in the Indian aviation industry other than the scheduled operators. BAOA has now confronted the DGCA for their onslaught against business and general aviation operators.

In January this year, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded India’s aviation safety ranking from Category I to Category II laying bare the gross inadequacy of the DGCA to ensure safe air travel. This, action on the part of the FAA was triggered primarily by a shortage of qualified staff for conducting safety and airworthiness checks of Indian carriers. This, however, was not an overnight development as following an inspection a few years ago, the FAA had indeed cautioned the Indian regulator of the possibility of downgrade if the inadequacies observed by the former were not addressed expeditiously. The focus of the FAA was on the poor safety oversight mechanism that the DGCA had in place for the Indian carriers and not on operators in the business and general aviation segments of the industry. Those affected most by the downgrade are primarily the full service carriers such as Air India and Jet Airways who cannot add more flights to the US or enter into code share agreements with international carriers. However, some of the low-cost carriers will also be affected as these have now become eligible to operate in the international segment. Business and general aviation in India was apparently not in the sights of the FAA.

Possibly as a fallout of the downgrade by the FAA, DGCA appears to have been rather suddenly galvanised into action and have begun carrying out random safety checks on business and general aviation aircraft as well. This action by the DGCA comes at a time when business aircraft including helicopters are in great demand countrywide for charter by political parties to ferry their leaders across the nation on poll campaign. In the recent past, the media carried reports of a number of cases of business aircraft that were inspected by the DGCA and found to be non-compliant with the regulations pertaining to the stipulated minimum levels of safety requirements. The BAOA views the initiative at selective leaks to the media by the DGCA as an effort to rather unfairly target business and general aviation aircraft operators and as “diversionary tactics to grab undue media attention in order to shift the focus away from their own shortcomings”.

This whole issue has been a cause for consternation and dismay amongst business aircraft operators as the environment in which business and general aviation operators in India are required to function, is not only unfriendly but extremely hostile. The procedure for the issue and renewal of an Air Operator Permit (AOP) has been laid down in a document entitled CAP 3100. Revised in August 2013, members of the BAOA find the process of acquiring an AOP or even its renewal to be an “extremely frustrating” experience. BAOA is of the view that the CAP 3100 is in itself questionable and not quite relevant to general aviation. For a new entrepreneur it may take several years to obtain an AOP and that too after the arrival of the aircraft into the country. The enormous losses that the prospective operator suffers on this account is of no concern to the regulator who is neither efficient nor accountable. BAOA also believes that CAP 3100 has provided “subjective power in the hands of DGCA officials, some of whom are taking undue advantage of it”.

What the government and the DGCA need to appreciate is that business aviation is a vital management tool for the corporate world and ought not to be perceived merely as personal indulgence and corporate excess. BAOA has been working on the DGCA to restructure the regulatory framework and incorporate specific regulations for business and general aviation as well as create a roadmap for its growth for the next 10 to 20 years. The industry is fully prepared to cooperate with DGCA in this effort.

Tragically, business and general aviation in India is not growing as it should, in fact this segment of the Indian aviation industry has been witnessing negative growth, the malaise being attributable to an oppressive policy framework and excessive control by the government. It is high time that DGCA gets its act together and come formulate rules and regulations dedicated to business and general aviation. These must be pragmatic, easy to comply with and inspire growth of the industry instead of proving to be a harassment for the operators and detrimental to aviation in general.