Even as the Indian Railways is under fire for not filling critical positions for the better upkeep of its infrastructure in the wake of the Balasore triple-train incident, the Ministry of Civil Aviation MoCA has been on a hiring spree to make air travel safer.
By 2030, India is expected to fly 450 million passengers from over 200 airports, up 300 percent compared to the current 145 million passengers. In addition, major home-grown carriers are expected to place giant orders for an additional 1,400 aircraft over the next five years.
If we talk about Air Traffic Controllers ATCOs today, there has been an increase of 100 per cent in their numbers in the last nine years, Scindia said.
While the country had only 2,305 ATCOs in FY14, that number has been jumped to 4,554, an increase of nearly 100 percent. MoCA has also received the Minister of Finance's clearance for the hire of another 756 ATCOS, he said.
The airline's directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) also saw its staff strength climb to 1,703 from 1,252 during the same period, an increase of 36 per cent.
But it's the aviation security regulator, BCAS, that has seen the greatest growth in manpower. In the past nine years, the number of officers in its ranks rose to 595 from 191 in FY14, a 212 percent increase.
The number of police officers working with the airport regulator, AERA, has also surged by more than 46 per cent. We only had 20 officers working under AERA, the report said, and we have increased their numbers to 32 to facilitate early disposal of cases.
The number of safety checks imposed by the regulators rose significantly during the period.
Safety is another area where we are trying to set high benchmarks for safety. In 2013 alone, only 1,982 safety checks were performed in a year. The number has been increased to 4,500 safety checks annually. This is an increase of 120 per cent, he said.
The country was not only able to reclaim but also retain the category 1 safety rating of the US Federal Aviation Administration after being downgraded to category 2 status in 2014, Scindia said.
The period also saw the country ascend to the 47th place of the International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO ranking from 102nd earlier, with the country's score effectively improving by 85 per cent.