New Delhi: India appointed a senior bureaucrat to lead its aviation regulator, with the incumbent moving to another government role following a tough year for the country’s civil aviation sector.
The government named Vir Vikram Yadav, additional secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, as the chief of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), as part of a wider reshuffle of roles.
The current head of the DGCA, Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, has been appointed as additional secretary in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. No reason was given for the moves.
Air India is dealing with increased regulatory scrutiny following a series of safety lapses and a crash in June 2025 that killed 260 people. The airline is scouting for a new CEO to replace incumbent Campbell Wilson.
IndiGo, meanwhile, has come under regulatory scrutiny after a spate of mass flight cancellations in December tied to poor pilot roster planning left tens of thousands of passengers stranded.
India’s largest airline named Willie Walsh, the head of global airline industry body IATA, as its new CEO on Tuesday.
The twin crises have brought India’s civil aviation ministry and the DGCA, which is housed within the ministry, under pressure.
People who have interacted with Kidwai in his current role describe him as an efficient officer and credit him with introducing changes in how the DGCA works, such as regular meetings with sections of the industry that were largely ignored.
