Aircraft Act substitute Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak 2024 Bill to be tabled in LS today

Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024 Bill

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu is set to introduce the Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak 2024 Bill in the Lok Sabha on July 31.

It aims to replace the Aircraft Act of 1934, modernising the regulatory framework for aviation in India.

The Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak 2024 was earlier introduced as the Draft Aircraft Bill, 2023 for public consultation by the government.

It aims to address the ambiguities in the existing law and to provide for enabling provisions for ease of doing business and manufacturing in aviation to support ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiatives.

The proposed legislation also aims to give effect to provisions of international conventions and to implement Standard and Recommended Practices and ensure safety and security oversight as per recent audit recommendations of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

The Bill proposes to give the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) increased powers, which will help them regulate the aviation market.

"The Directorate General of Civil Aviation and The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security shall regulate the functions of safety oversight and look after safety concerns along with the Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau to look into the matters of investigation of accidents," the draft Bill floated by the Ministry of Civil Aviation said.

As part of the Bill the definition of aircraft is being updated to cover any not only commercial aircraft but drones, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), flying taxis and certain electronic gliders. "Aircraft is proposed to be described as any machine capable of deriving support in the atmosphere from air reactions, excluding reactions against the Earth's surface" it said.

The Bill includes provisions to regulate the design and manufacturing of aircraft, supporting the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative for self-reliance. It also gives the central government more power to prohibit or regulate certain construction activities, issue directives, detain aircraft, and enact emergency orders when necessary.

Another key facets of the Bill is that it shall confer the government with certain powers to regulate and make rules to ensure the safety, operation, and efficient functioning of the air services.

"The government shall have the power to make rules for the registration and marking of the aircraft. It also states the conditions under which the aircraft shall fly and the conditions to be adhered to meet the safety of the passengers," the draft Bill said.

The draft Bill said that the aircraft must be authorised to provide its services by obtaining the licence, certificate, and other required documents.

"The government shall also make rules regarding the Inspection of the Aircraft at appropriate times to ensure compliance," the draft Bill had said.

The preamble to the Draft Aircraft Bill, 2023 stated that it aims to have an Act to make better provisions for regulation and control of the design, manufacture, possession, use, operation, sale, import and export of aircraft and for connected matters, and to remove the redundancies in the 1934 law.

“The existing Aircraft Act, 1934 has been reviewed and accordingly a bill providing for regulating provisions in a simplified manner, identifying existing redundancies and to provide for provisions to meet the current needs for regulation of civil aviation in a simplified language...,” the civil aviation ministry said.