Senior bureaucrat Vir Vikram Yadav appointed new DGCA chief

Yadav, a 1996-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre, takes over India’s aviation safety regulator from Faiz Ahmed Kidwai — a 1996-batch officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre who has been appointed additional secretary in the department of personnel and training. Yadav was serving as additional secretary in the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change.

The DGCA has faced heightened scrutiny in recent months over operational disruptions and safety concerns, most recently IndiGo’s disruptions in December 2025 and scrutiny of charter plane operators and small airport.

ACC issued two orders – one for additional secretary level positions and the other for secretary level positions.