Bill seeks to overwrite colonial-era aviation law

Another colonial-era law, the nine-decade-old Aircraft Act is set to be replaced with a new legislation, Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam (BVA).

Civil Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu Kinjarapu on Wednesday introduced the Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024 in the Lok Sabha. “As a result of numerous amendments over a period of ninety years, a need is felt to address the ambiguities and confusion experienced by the stakeholders, to remove redundancies, to enable ease of doing business and to provide for manufacture and maintenance in the aviation sector, and to re-enact the aforesaid Act in the form of a Bill,” the Minister mentioned in the ‘statement of objects and reasons’ of the bill.

At first glance, the 26-page legislation does not appear much different from the latest version of the Aircraft Act 1934. However, given the rapidly evolving market, a brand new legislation was deemed necessary.

Domestic air travel is estimated to grow by 8-13 per cent in FY2024, surpassing the pre-pandemic count of 141.2 million passengers in FY2020. International traffic has also exceeded pre-pandemic levels in FY2023, and is expected to peak soon.

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As on date, the order book for nearly 1,700 new aircraft is more than double the current fleet size of Indian carriers. According to the Reserve Bank of India, 40 scheduled banks have cumulatively doubled their lending to the aviation sector in January at ₹45,076 crore, as against ₹23,407 crore three years ago.

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Investments from other sources stood at ₹27,824 crore in January 2023, up 62 per cent year-on-year, and continued to rise gradually during FY24. These developments have spurred efforts to enact a new law.

Aims and objectives

The bill has listed 10 objectives, including providing for the design, manufacture and maintenance of aircraft and related equipment. It aims to empower the Central government to regulate the issue of the Radio Telephone Operator (Restricted) Certificate and licence to promote ease of doing business. It prescribes provisions to empower the Central government to make rules to implement the convention relating to international civil aviation and other matters relating to civil aviation security. It also has provision to empower the Central government to issue orders in an emergency in the interest of public safety.

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The Aircraft Act 1934 was enacted to make better provision for the control of the manufacture, possession, use, operation, sale, import and export of aircraft. The regulation of civil air transport within the territory and the airspace above India, including regulation of international air services of national and foreign air carriers, is the sovereign function of the government. Accordingly, this is given effect under the new Act, covering international regulations, and bilateral and multilateral agreements and arrangements to which India is a contracting party or which has been acceded to or ratified by India.

The 1934 Act has been amended several times to enhance safety, oversight and to meet the requirements for the sustainable growth of the aviation sector and to give effect to the provisions of international conventions.