Mumbai: A year after the crash of Air India 171 in Ahmedabad that killed 260 people, a crucial cog in the country’s aviation safety – a crack unit meant to certify that aircraft in our skies are safe to fly – is even more short-staffed than it was before the accident. Data obtained by The Wire under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, show that of the total 310 posts in the Directorate of Airworthiness (DAW) a total of 136, or 44%, were lying vacant. This number is across levels. Last July, a month after the crash, an RTI query by The Wire had revealed that 133 posts were vacant. This has now increased to 136. The DAW is a unit that certifies aircraft to be fit to fly, conducts surprise checks on flights as well as its crew and even audits the facilities that maintain and repair aircraft. The unit, in some ways, forms the front-line auditor in-charge of ensuring air safety within the country. Yet, despite the vacancies, the Modi government had not made a single new hire in the DAW, nor created any new post in it, in the 11 months after the air crash, data obtained under RTI showed. The Wire has reached out to the Ministry of Civil Aviation through emails and WhatsApp messages to the Press Information Bureau in-charge of the ministry, Divyanshu Kumar. This report will be updated when we receive a response. PostsVacancies in 2025Vacancies in 2026Total postPercentage of vacancies in 2026Airworthiness officers746912157%Assistant Director of Airworthiness282710426%Deputy Director of Airworthiness23226733%Director of Airworthiness81818100% Total13313631044%Source: Responses obtained under the Right To Information Act, 2005 by this correspondent.These vacancies fly in the face of assurances by the Modi government after the crash, of ensuring safer skies for Indians. Union minister for civil aviation Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu had promised that the government would “leave no stone unturned in uncovering the causes and ensuring long-term aviation safety reforms.”One year since one of the worst crashes in Indian aviation history, both these promises remain unfulfilled. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is yet to submit its report on the crash and the DAW is even more hamstrung than before. Speaking to The Wire, former DAW staffers underlined the critical nature of the unit and warned that such vacancies could result in poor scrutiny of aircraft and pave the way for more aviation disasters in the future. “The directorate is responsible for every aspect of the aircraft, right from its maintenance to tracking the spare parts to be replaced, and ensuring that it is fit to fly,” said Rajendra Prasad, who retired in 2023 from the DAW, as Director of Airworthiness. “From the most technical aspects of the aircraft’s maintenance to even pasting an advertisement on the aircraft’s tail, nothing can be changed without airworthiness’ approval,” Prasad added.The vacancies, he said, would cripple the DAW’s core functioning. “The inspections suffer. The surveillance you are supposed to carry can’t be done. That is why these things happen,” Prasad said, pointing to air mishaps. “The airline operators, in any case, don’t want the inspection to be thorough. (With such vacancies) Even the airworthiness staff want to take shortcuts and finish inspections quickly, and the airline operators are more than happy to facilitate this,” he said. “Essentially, the duty they have been assigned, the work that the government gives the money for, that work isn’t happening,” Prasad added. “And this is risky”. The DGCA’s annual surveillance plans reveal how critical the unit is to the regulator’s job in maintaining air safety. As per the DGCA’s published annual surveillance plan, which details the checks the regulator had scheduled across the country’s airports, runways, hangars and maintenance units, a total of 5,435 such audits were supposed to be conducted in the year 2026-27. These include surprise, unannounced checks, night inspections as well as detailed checks of aircrafts at the ramp as well as while they are in maintenance. These audits form the backbone of the country’s programme to regulate aircraft safety and passenger security. The Minister of State for civil aviation, Murlidhar Mohol had said this annual surveillance plan was meant to “ensure that the airlines and the maintenance organisation continue to comply with the regulatory requirements against which they were initially approved,” he had said.“In case of non-compliances, DGCA ensures that the airlines/maintenance organisation take necessary corrective action. In case of violations, DGCA may initiate enforcement actions against the airline/organisations/personnel which may include warning, suspension or cancellation of approval/certificate/license including imposition of financial penalty” he added.Screengrabs from the RTI responses received by Kunal Purohit in 2025 and 2026.All 13 units of the DGCA along with the DAW – from the directorate of air safety to the directorate of aircraft engineering – join forces to conduct these checks. And yet, it is the DAW which carries out an overwhelming bulk of the checks – 1802 of the total 5435 surveillance checks, which means one in every three checks is conducted by the DAW.Despite being tasked with carrying out such vital audits, the DAW is operating with skeletal staff. Most of these audits and checks are carried out by its first line of auditors, called Airworthiness Officers or AWOs. The directorate is supposed to have 121 such AWOs to carry out such audits. However, the RTI response revealed that only 52 posts are filled – an overwhelming bulk of the posts, 69, remain empty, a vacancy rate of 57%.The problem at the very top of the chain – the DAW has officials from entry-level AWOs to assistant directors, deputy directors and finally directors of airworthiness – is even more acute. Overseeing the operations of the directorate are 18 directors of airworthiness, posted across the country. However, the RTI response showed that as of May 1, 2026, all the 18 director-level posts lie vacant. The risks from such poor quality of surveillance are increasingly clear. In February this year, Air India was found to have operated an Airbus A320 aircraft at least eight times, on flights to Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, without being cleared to fly by the DAW. In July last year, it was discovered that Air India had ignored a directive from the European Union Safety Agency (EASA) to replace certain parts in the engine of the Airbus A320 aircraft it was operating. A news report showed that the airline hadn’t merely failed to follow the order but had also falsified documents to show that it had complied with it. Last year, the annual audit of Air India found that the airline suffered from more than 51 lapses that compromised on safety: from not training its pilots sufficiently to using simulators that had not been approved, in order to train its pilots.Such poor oversight is having consequences. Safety violations in charter airline operators spiked, from 27 and 29 instances in 2023 and 2024 to 46 in 2025, as per a response by the ministry in parliament on March 30 this year. Data furnished by the civil aviation ministry showed that the country’s air space saw nearly one technical defect/snag a day, in 2025, with a total of 353 such instances of snags recorded. The country also saw 11 serious incidents involving scheduled airlines in 2025.While the DGCA did not respond to comments, a former staffer, who requested anonymity said that such vacancies were creating “a culture” of laxity within the country’s aviation ecosystem.“With such few officers auditing aircrafts, quality takes a hit. You do just one inspection, but if you do it thoroughly, it will reveal a lot more than five superficial ones,” the former staffer said. “Now, since the officers have been set lofty audit targets to finish, they focus on small, petty, visible inspections and don’t bother with the more critical inspections that actually have a bearing on safety. This is a win-win for both, the officer and the airline operator,” the staffer added.Prasad, the former director of airworthiness concurred. “Over time, as aircraft age, such lack of oversight and the neglect in auditing aircraft will end up becoming dangerous,” he said.