New Delhi: The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on Wednesday said various initiatives have been taken to increase the workforce at various authorities, including DGCA, where 114 positions out of the 416 newly created posts have been filled, and the remaining will be filled in a phased manner.

Besides the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), initiatives have been taken to increase the workforce at the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

DGCA employs a team of qualified and experienced aircraft/aeronautical engineers, pilots, and air traffic controllers to carry out its regulatory and oversight functions.

"As a testament to these efforts, a total of 416 new positions have been established in the DGCA, which will help the aviation watchdog to provide a safe environment in the sector. The positions will be filled in a phased manner. 114 posts out of these have already been filled," the ministry said in a release.

With respect to AERA, 10 new posts have been created and 5 of them have been filled.

"The rest of the posts will be filled soon. Apart from this, there were 27 vacancies in existing posts. Out of which 24 have been filled and the remaining 3 are under process," the release said.

According to the ministry, a number of posts of Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) have been created at AAI.

"To meet the growing demand of air travel, 796 additional posts of ATCOs have been created in two phases i.e. 340 posts in May 2022 and 456 posts in April 2023. Action has also been taken to fill the posts of ATCOs," the release said.

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