Bharatiya Vayuyan Niyam, 2026 Replaces the Aircraft Rules of 1937 With 220 Rules in Eight Chapters, Taking Effect on 1 January 2027

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has notified the Bharatiya Vayuyan Niyam, 2026 (roughly, the Indian Aircraft Rules, 2026), a code of 220 rules in eight chapters and six schedules that replaces the Aircraft Rules, 1937 from 1 January 2027. A Press Information Bureau (PIB) backgrounder of 4 November 2026 describes it as the new principal rulebook for civil aviation, covering aircraft registration, airworthiness, personnel licensing, airport operations, air navigation services and flight operations. The same backgrounder counts 166 operational airports in October 2026, against 74 in 2014. Everything below is as of 6 November 2026.

What was notified, and when

Aviation Today reports that the notification is dated 26 October 2026 and that the Gazette of India published it on 31 October. Business Standard, writing on 1 November, says the Gazette carried the rules on Saturday, which was 31 October. The announcement followed: IANS reported it on 2 November, All India Radio on 3 November, and PIB issued its explainer on 4 November.

The rules are made under the Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam, 2024, the Act that re-enacted the Aircraft Act, 1934. According to the PIB year-end review of 2024, Lok Sabha passed that Act on 9 August 2024 and Rajya Sabha on 5 December 2024, and it came into force on 1 January 2025. The new rules also replace Part IX of the Aircraft Rules, 1920, and repeal the Radio Telephone Operator (Restricted) Certificate and Licence Rules, 2025, subject to savings provisions, the PIB backgrounder says.

From a 1937 notification to one consolidated code

The Aircraft Rules were made on 23 March 1937 by the Department of Industries and Labour, under the Aircraft Act, 1934, and they superseded the Indian Aircraft Rules, 1920 except for that code’s Part IX. The text that PRS Legislative Research hosts, updated to February 2011, shows how many amendments they absorbed: its parts run from I to XIV with lettered additions (X-A, XII-A, XII-B and XIII-A), its Part XII is marked as deleted (rules 93 to 133), and it refers to the Chicago Convention of 1944, which did not exist when the rules were first made.

Business Standard notes that the broad framework stays similar and that many existing requirements on registration, airworthiness, licensing, operations and tariffs carry over. The PIB says the new rules “retain essential safety requirements” while dealing with developments in aircraft technology, operations and financing. One example of continuity is the pilot age limit. The 2011 text of the 1937 rules bars a licence holder aged 65 or more from acting as pilot-in-command or co-pilot in commercial air transport, and Aviation Today reports the same limit in the new code, with extra multi-crew conditions from age 60.

Designing aircraft in India: the State of Design provisions

The PIB singles out a more defined framework for aircraft design and certification, which it says strengthens India’s position as a State of Design. In Annex 8 of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the State of Design is the state that has jurisdiction over the organisation responsible for a type design. The Annex gives that state continuing duties after the aircraft enters service, including sending other states the information needed to keep that type airworthy.

In the new rules, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) may issue type certificates for aircraft, engines and propellers where India is the State of Design, and may also validate or accept foreign type certificates on prescribed conditions. The DGCA may issue airworthiness directives when an unsafe condition is likely to affect other products of the same design, and draft directives are generally put on its website for 30 days of comment. It may also authorise the design and manufacture of components, approve design and manufacturing organisations, and accept foreign-approved maintenance organisations. Components not covered by rules 27 to 33 must meet technical standards the DGCA specifies, called Indian Technical Standard Orders.

Leasing, fractional ownership and a five-day deregistration

Registration is split into Categories A and B, based on ownership, citizenship, business registration and leasing criteria. Indian aircraft carry the nationality mark VT followed by a hyphen and three capital letters, and the DGCA keeps a public register of Indian-registered aircraft.

The rules recognise fractional ownership, where several owners share an aircraft and the arrangement names who is responsible for operating and maintaining it. They also connect to the Protection of Interests in Aircraft Objects Act, 2025, which Parliament passed in April 2025 to implement the Cape Town Convention and its aircraft protocol, signed in 2001. Under the new rules, an eligible request from the holder of an Irrevocable De-registration and Export Request Authorisation (IDERA), the authorisation that lets a lessor or creditor have its aircraft deregistered and exported, must be processed within five working days. The ministry says this “may help reduce” aircraft acquisition and leasing costs and ease pressure on airfares over time.

Licences, controllers, cabin crew and what passengers meet

The code lists 23 categories of licences, ratings and certificates, covering pilots, flight engineers, flight navigators, aircraft maintenance engineers, air traffic controllers and radio-telephone operators. Controllers may exercise specified licence privileges up to age 60. Aircraft with 10 to 50 seats, and helicopters with 20 to 50 seats, must carry at least one cabin crew member, and larger aircraft at least two, with one more for every 50 seats or part thereof beyond 99. No cabin crew member may serve on more than three aircraft types. The PIB also lists fatigue management, with flight and duty limits and minimum rest, and says crew may not consume alcohol within 12 hours before a flight or during flight duties.

Some provisions reach travellers directly. Alcohol consumption is prohibited on domestic air transport services, and photography at aerodromes and from aircraft in flight requires prescribed permissions. Laser use within ten nautical miles of an aerodrome needs the written permission of the aerodrome operator, and slaughter or garbage dumping that attracts wildlife is restricted within ten kilometres, with exceptions. The code also prohibits civil aircraft operations that generate sonic booms over India.

The DGCA must run mandatory and voluntary safety reporting systems, and the voluntary one must be non-punitive and keep reporters’ identities confidential.

Penalties, appeals and a connectivity fund

The PIB counts 21 punishable offences carrying up to two years in prison, a fine of up to ₹1 crore (₹10 million), or both, and 18 compoundable offences, meaning ones that can be settled by paying a sum. A separate graded penalty structure has ten severity levels, with monetary penalties from ₹10,000 to ₹1 crore depending on the contravention and the size and category of the offender. The rules provide for appeals, hearings and reasoned orders. The ministry presents these as steps towards decriminalising regulatory breaches without loosening safety.

The Central Government may also set up a Regional Air Connectivity Fund to pay viability gap funding, and may levy a charge on domestic scheduled flights for it, with possible contributions from state governments. The scheme that fund would serve is covered in our article on ten years of UDAN.

What the fare rule says

Rule 192 deals with tariffs, according to Aviation Today. Scheduled airlines must set fares having regard to factors including operating cost, send tariff details to the DGCA, publish them on their websites or other digital platforms, and show the total payable amount with a breakdown of fare, taxes, fees, cancellation charges and refund conditions. The DGCA monitors tariffs. In an extraordinary situation, the Central Government may issue written directions in the public interest, which must be proportionate and run only for a specified period. Aviation Today notes that the rules do not define “extraordinary situation”.

The 1937 rules, as updated to 2011, already had a tariff rule. Rule 135 asks operators to set fares on cost and other factors, publish them, show the total with a break-up on tickets, and lets the Director General issue directions to an operator found to have set an excessive or predatory tariff. The new provision moves the direction power to the Central Government for extraordinary situations.

Airfares are also before the Supreme Court. On 13 July 2026 the Court asked the Centre to place the framed rules before it, and on 16 October the Solicitor General told the bench that the rules had been finalised and would be published within two weeks, according to LawChakra. The public interest petition filed by S. Laxminarayanan is listed for 16 November 2026.