The IndiGo row lays bare a system where aviation grows fast but oversight stays shallow.

xThe IndiGo incident has once again reminded us of something we often overlook: India operates one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets with a regulator that treats expertise as an optional add-on. Sensible? Not particularly.

Across the world, aviation regulators are led by people who’ve spent their lives in cockpits, control towers, airline boardrooms or engineering hangars. The UK trusts a commercial pilot. The US picked a man who ran a major airline. France and China have engineers who know the difference between turbulence and incompetence. These countries don’t consider specialised knowledge a luxury, but a prerequisite.

And then there’s India, where the DGCA job often goes to a babu

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