Aviation Round -Up 2025

Opening an aircraft maintenance facility in India requires navigating three parallel regulatory tracks that operate on different timelines: airworthiness approval from the DGCA, land and airside access from airport operators, and duty treatment from customs authorities. This comprehensive legal guide examines the statutory framework under the new Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam 2024, the CAR-145 organization approval process, airport land allocation challenges, customs duty exemptions, and the state-level clear

Airline insolvency presents a particularly difficult problem for insolvency law because the assets most critical to keeping the airline operational may not belong to the airline at all. Aircraft are frequently held under operating leases. When an airline enters insolvency, therefore, the resolution professional (“RP”) may be required to preserve the corporate debtor as a going concern while the aircraft lessor seeks to enforce its contractual and international-law rights to recover possession of its aircraft.

Aircraft maintenance reserve clauses and redelivery conditions are the two provisions most likely to trigger multi-million dollar disputes at the end of an aircraft lease agreement. This article examines the mechanics of Maintenance Reserve Funds, explores escrow versus lessor-retained custody structures, and provides detailed guidance on drafting quantified redelivery conditions that eliminate ambiguity when exposure is highest.

GPS spoofing poses a sophisticated threat to Indian civil aviation, manipulating navigation systems through fake satellite signals that can mislead aircraft off course. As incidents increase near...

India’s aviation sector is one of the fastest-growing in the world, and for the businesses driving it, working with the right aviation law firm in India has become as important as operational efficiency. Aviation legal and regulatory compliance in India now spans airport expansion, aircraft leasing and finance, cross-border repossession, foreign investment, drone technology and dispute resolution.

Aircraft acquisitions and leasing transactions demand rigorous technical due diligence that extends beyond engineering inspections to encompass maintenance records, regulatory compliance, and legal documentation. How can buyers, lessors, and financiers effectively translate technical findings into contractual protections that preserve asset value and mitigate post-closing risks in an increasingly complex regulatory environment?

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau operates under India's Ministry of Civil Aviation, but questions arise about whether its institutional framework provides sufficient separation from the regulatory authority it may need to scrutinize. This analysis examines the 2025 Rules governing aircraft accident investigations and compares India's approach with international models that structurally separate investigators from regulators.

The article examines the near-automatic judicial treatment of exit documentation rights in Indian employment law and traces how the Bombay High Court's ruling in Bharat Aviation Pvt. Ltd. and Ors. v. Rahul Sudhindra Soni marks the emergence of a new doctrine - the consequential document doctrine, under which such entitlements are conditioned on a lawful and complete exit from employment.

India's aviation industry is undergoing its most significant legal transformation in nearly a century with the enactment of the Bhartiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam, 2024. This modern legislative framework replaces the colonial-era Aircraft Act, 1934, bringing greater regulatory clarity, stronger enforcement mechanisms, and recognition of emerging aviation technologies. How will this regulatory shift influence compliance strategies, investment decisions, and commercial operations for airlines, airport operators, MRO

India’s aviation sector is expanding at an unprecedented pace. With rising passenger traffic, increasing airline competition, digital ticketing platforms and growing consumer awareness, passenger disputes have become...

Indian courts have, in recent times, increasingly been confronted with novel legal questions arising from the intersection of AI-generated outputs and the rights that may subsist in, or be affected by, such outputs.

SEBI's new framework for ESG debt securities establishes comprehensive disclosure requirements, third-party verification standards, and alignment with international principles for green bonds, social bonds, sustainability bonds, and sustainability-linked bonds. How will these regulatory requirements reshape India's sustainable finance market and address concerns about greenwashing while mobilizing capital for climate and social development goals?

The Supreme Court of India has definitively ruled that a tenant cannot avoid eviction under the Delhi Rent Control Act simply because possession transferred to another entity through...

As India's retail landscape evolves into an integrated omnichannel ecosystem, competition law frameworks continue to treat online and offline retail as separate markets. With e-commerce representing just 6-7% of consumer spending while consumers seamlessly move between digital and physical channels, the question emerges: are regulators defining markets based on outdated channel distinctions rather than actual competitive dynamics?

India has transformed its mergers and acquisitions landscape through sweeping legislative reforms and liberalized foreign investment policies, driving deal values to USD124 billion in 2025.

Indian courts recognize that confidential business information is protectable where it is specific, commercially valuable and shared in circumstances of confidence. For start-ups and fast-growing FMCG businesses, where management bandwidth is directed towards brand-building, distribution and customer acquisition, data protection is often deferred. This article examines what makes company data vulnerable, what courts protect in data disputes, and how businesses can embed litigation-readiness into their data

The Delhi High Court's landmark interim order in ANI v. OpenAI examines whether AI training on copyrighted news content constitutes infringement under Indian law, addressing jurisdictional challenges, fair dealing defenses...

India's Ministry of Home Affairs has introduced sweeping amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act framework through the 2026 Amendment Rules, fundamentally transforming how NGOs and not-for-profits receive and utilize foreign funding. These changes establish purpose-specific and geography-specific registration requirements, enhanced disclosure obligations including ultimate donor identification, and objective benchmarks for organizational activity. Will these reforms strengthen accountability

Generative artificial intelligence (“Gen-AI”) is an idea whose time has come. It is no more the future of technology but its present. Gen-AI is today being used in every aspect of our professional, business, and personal lives. As with the advent of every technological development, the world is finding itself in a vacuum on existing regulations to streamline and regulate the scope of such technology.

The Supreme Court has clarified when the doctrine of 'change of opinion' applies in tax reassessment proceedings, examining whether mere production of documents satisfies the requirement of full and true disclosure.