Regulator with financial muscle and more teeth to replace DGCA

The regulator will provide a transparent system of policing airlines that will include pricing of seats,ensuring safety,managing standards of air service navigation operators and of other civil aviation facilities.

Airports will continue to be regulated by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority.

“The CAA will be an autonomous organisation and will be out of the civil aviation ministry’s purview with powers to penalise and fine. It will be financially independent and be given powers to recruit,” said an official.

The Cabinet’s approval comes when the government is planning to raise the FDI cap in the sector to 74 per cent from 49 per cent approved in September.

The authority will be headed by a chairman,assisted by a CEO and a board of five directors of who at least three will be aviation experts. It will be expected to recruit qualified people faster. At present,30 per cent of the DGCA’s sanctioned strength of 950 is vacant.

“The issue that concerns the aviation industry in India most is safety,because the current regulator cannot ensure it due to various reasons. With administrative and financial autonomy coming to CAA,the regulator will be able to hire right people within time ensuring safety of the passengers,” said Sanat Kaul,chairman of the International Foundation for Aviation,Aerospace and Development in India. Kaul,however,is unhappy about the time it took for the government to approve the CAA.

“The delay it took in getting this cleared by the Cabinet clearly highlights the inefficiency of the civil aviation ministry,” Kaul,a former civil aviation secretary,said.

Airlines welcomed the decision and said they want to examine how much power the ministry cedes to the CAA. They have had several run-ins with the ministry and even the DGCA over even minor issues such as pricing of preferred seats to clearances for buying of aircraft,each of which has to be approved by the government.

“You want these independent authorities and regulators to bring about changes. We will wait until the time the regulator is formed,” said an airline official.