(MENAFN- Live Mint) India's aviation regulator is pushing for financial and staffing autonomy similar to counterparts in Europe, the UK and US, as it seeks to strengthen oversight and keep pace with the demands of a booming air travel sector.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation , or DGCA, wants authority to independently recruit and offer competitive salaries to attract qualified professionals, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified citing rules. It is also seeking increased funding to support regular training program for its staff, they said.

The demand for autonomy underscores the regulator's assessment that it needs to muscle up and bolster oversight of the world's third-largest domestic aviation market. Any capacity constrains at the DGCA also risk raising concerns about its ability to ensure safety - a worry amplified after the recent Air India crash that killed all but one passenger and triggered a system-wide audit.

Currently, the Indian regulator operates with limited manpower resources and funding that's a fraction of what its global peers receive.

As of July, the DGCA had filled only 553 of 1,063 technical posts and employed 4,295 air traffic controllers, the people said. In contrast, the US Federal Aviation Administration has 46,170 employees, including 14,000 controllers and 7,000 safety inspectors.

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For the year ending March 31, the DGCA has been allocated just $38 million, compared to the FAA's $23.1 billion in fiscal 2024, they added. European Union Aviation Safety Agency, or EASA's 2024 allocation was eight fold of its Indian counterpart's while the UK's Civil Aviation Authority got nearly six times in 2023 of DGCA's current allocation, the people said.

The DGCA and India's Aviation Ministry didn't immediately respond to requests for comments.

Unlike the DGCA, which operates under India's Civil Aviation Ministry, the CAA and EASA are independent bodies, the people said. The FAA, under the US Department of Transportation, enjoys relatively limited autonomy, they said.

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India's aviation sector has grown consistently over the past decade, with passenger numbers more than doubling to 234 million from 116 million and aircraft fleet size growing over 100% to 841.

Rising Workload

Indian carriers have ordered more than 1,300 planes - one of the largest order book from any country - signaling that the regulator's workload is only going to increase in the coming years.

The Indian aviation regulator also lacks a formal training module, and funding constraints have hindered efforts to develop specialized programs in collaboration with domestic and international institutions.

This has led to challenges in deploying qualified inspectors across the country, particularly for certain aircraft types located in regions without trained personnel, the people said.

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