Ministry of Civil Aviation ramps up hiring to make air travel safer

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has increased hiring in its sector to make air travel safer. This comes, amid the criticism the Indian Railways is facing for failing to filling up critical positions that would maintain and develop the infrastructure in the aftermath of Odisha triple train crash.

Recently, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in a press conference had said that there is a need to ramp up the institutional framework.

“At this time of an increase in aircraft and airports, we also need to ramp up the institutional framework”, said Scindia.

Since FY15, sectors across the aviation ministry has seen a hike in hirings. This includes induction of new air traffic control officers (ATCOs), in the Airport Authority of India (AAI), hiring additional personnel in regulatory bodies like Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Bureau of Civil Aviation Securities (BCAS), and the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA).

The number of ATCOs jumped by 100% in the last nine years. While there were 2,305 ATCOs in FY14, that number has now jumped to 4,554. Along with this, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has also obtained Finance Ministry's approval for the hiring of another 756 ATCOS.

Meanwhile, the DGCA's staff numbers also saw a rise of 36%. In FY14 DGCA had 1,252 employees which has increased to 1,703. The aviation security regulator BCAS has seen the maximum rise of 212% in the number of staff. From 191 in FY14, the manpower has risen to 595. Airport regulator AERA to saw an hiring hike of 46%.

As per Business Today, India is estimated to be the fastest-growing aviation market globally. The country is expected to fly 450 million passengers from over 200 airports by 2030, a growth of 300% over the current 145 million passengers. Furthermore, major home-grown carriers are projected to place mega orders for an additional 1,400 aircraft over the next five years.