New Delhi, India: The Government of India has appointed senior IAS officer Vir Vikram Yadav as the new Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), replacing Faiz Ahmed Kidwai in a significant bureaucratic reshuffle affecting multiple senior administrative positions across ministries.
According to an official order cited by PTI and reported across multiple outlets, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the transfer as part of a broader restructuring of top government posts.
Yadav, a 1996-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre, was serving as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change before his appointment to the aviation regulator. He will now head the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India’s apex civil aviation safety and regulatory authority.
Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, who assumed charge as DGCA chief in January 2025, has been transferred to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) as Additional Secretary.
The reshuffle comes amid heightened attention on India’s civil aviation sector, which has faced operational disruptions, safety scrutiny, and regulatory challenges over the past year.
Recent reports indicate that the DGCA has been engaged in oversight of airline safety compliance, pilot duty-time regulations, and operational disruptions involving major carriers like IndiGo. The regulator has also been under pressure following incidents that triggered large-scale cancellations and intensified scrutiny of airline preparedness and safety systems.
Both IndiGo and Air India, which together dominate India’s domestic aviation market, have been at the centre of regulatory attention over the past year due to operational and safety-related issues.
Last Year In December, IndiGo, India’s largest airline by market share, faced heightened regulatory scrutiny after operational disruptions led to widespread flight delays and cancellations. Airline reports indicated that the disruption resulted in hundreds of cancellations over a short period, affecting passenger movement during peak travel schedules and triggering passenger inconvenience across key airports including Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.
While the government has not officially linked the leadership change to sector developments, reports indicate that the reshuffle is part of a wider administrative exercise involving 12 secretary-level and 27 additional secretary-level postings across ministries.
The DGCA, functioning under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is responsible for regulating air safety, licensing, airworthiness standards, and enforcement of civil aviation regulations in India.
