The Indian Parliament passed the Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024 in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha during the Budget Session, replacing the Aircraft Act, 1934 — a statute that had governed Indian civil aviation for ninety years. The new legislation provides a comprehensive regulatory framework addressing modern aviation challenges, including drone operations, air navigation services, and enhanced safety and security standards that the colonial-era statute was not equipped to handle.
Background
The Aircraft Act, 1934 was enacted during the British colonial period to regulate air transport and navigation in India. Over nine decades, the statute was amended multiple times to accommodate developments in aviation technology, safety standards, and the growth of commercial civil aviation. However, the foundational architecture of the Act remained that of a pre-independence regulatory framework, and it lacked provisions for contemporary challenges such as unmanned aerial vehicles, advanced air navigation systems, and the complexities of a large-scale commercial aviation market.
India's civil aviation sector has grown rapidly to become the third-largest domestic aviation market globally, with over 15 crore passengers carried in FY24. The existing regulatory framework, operating through a patchwork of rules, orders, and circulars layered over the 1934 Act, was widely recognised as inadequate for the scale and complexity of current operations. The Ministry of Civil Aviation had been working on a replacement statute for several years.
Key Provisions
The Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024 introduces the following key elements:
Comprehensive drone framework: The Act provides a dedicated statutory framework for the regulation of unmanned aircraft systems (drones), covering registration, airworthiness, operational permissions, and penalties for violations. This replaces the current reliance on rules and regulatory orders issued under the 1934 Act.
Air navigation services: Statutory provisions for the regulation of air navigation services, including air traffic management, are introduced. The Act provides for the establishment of a regulatory framework governing air navigation service providers.
Licensing and certification: The Act modernises the licensing framework for airlines, pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers, and aerodromes, incorporating contemporary international standards and practices aligned with ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) norms.
Safety and security: Enhanced safety investigation and reporting frameworks are provided. The Act establishes penalties for interference with aviation safety, including offences related to the use of drones in restricted areas and interference with communication or navigation systems.
Penalties: The penalty framework is significantly updated from the 1934 Act's provisions, with penalties calibrated to current scales and deterrent objectives.
Implications for Practitioners
Aviation law practitioners should note that the transition from the 1934 Act to the new statute will require careful attention to the timeline for subordinate legislation. The Act provides the statutory backbone, but the operational detail — drone categories, no-fly zones, licensing standards, safety reporting requirements — will be prescribed through rules notified by the Central Government. Until these rules are framed and notified, existing rules under the 1934 Act may continue to apply under transitional provisions.
The drone regulation provisions are particularly significant for the burgeoning Indian drone industry. Companies operating in drone logistics, agricultural spraying, surveying, and delivery services should engage with the rule-making process to ensure that operational frameworks are commercially viable while meeting safety objectives.
Corporate counsel advising airline operators should prepare for updated compliance obligations across licensing, safety reporting, and operational standards as the subordinate legislation under the new Act is progressively notified.