India's DGCA Caps Aircraft Registrations on Non-Scheduled Flight Permits at Three
Why It MattersOperators running large charter or private fleets in India will need to plan tail assignments more precisely, adding administrative steps to flight scheduling on short notice.
India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation has capped non-scheduled, private, charter, and business aviation permit requests at a maximum of three aircraft registrations — one primary and two alternates — under guidance issued by email on 19 August 2026. The change follows reports that some operators had been listing entire fleets on permit applications, effectively allowing any aircraft in the fleet to operate a given flight.
Under the new rule, operators with large fleets must select aircraft carefully; if a flight ends up being operated by an aircraft not covered by the original permit, a change request must be filed. The DGCA states that permit changes will only be considered in exceptional circumstances, though local permit agents say change requests submitted during DGCA working hours are typically processed within six hours.
Other permit rules for non-scheduled operations remain in place: requests may be submitted no more than 10 working days before the flight, overwater flights require 24 hours' lead time, and flights crossing Indian landmass require three working days' lead time. Flights that do not overfly Indian landmass, such as certain oceanic routes to Malé (VRMM) in the Maldives, do not require a permit. The three-aircraft limit applies only to non-scheduled and private permit requests and does not affect scheduled airline operations.
Separately, reciprocal airspace bans between India and Pakistan, put in place following a 2025 conflict, remain in effect and continue to be extended, barring Indian-registered aircraft from Pakistani airspace and vice versa.
