India's Aviation Law Revolution: Legislative Reform, Judicial Developments, and Regulatory Transformation, 2024–2026

Few sectors of the Indian economy have witnessed as dramatic a legislative awakening as civil aviation did between 2024 and 2026. Driven largely by the catastrophic lessons of the Go First airline insolvency, India's lawmakers moved with uncommon urgency to address structural vulnerabilities that had long undermined investor confidence and inflated leasing costs. This paper traces three interlocking threads of transformation: the enactment of the Protection of Interests in Aircraft Objects Act, 2025, which finally gave meaningful domestic teeth to India's decade-old ratification of the Cape Town Convention; the introduction of the Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam, 2024, which retired a colonial-era regulatory statute and reoriented civil aviation governance for the contemporary era; and the promulgation of India's first mandatory sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) blending requirement, which introduced a new dimension of environmental compliance into airline operations. Woven alongside these legislative milestones are significant judicial pronouncements — notably the Bombay High Court's resolution of a 27-year aviation dispute in Airport Authority of India v. Aer Lingus Ltd — and the unfolding passenger rights crisis triggered by IndiGo's mass flight cancellations in December 2025. Taken together, these developments reveal a nation consciously redesigning its aviation legal architecture, not merely as an administrative exercise, but as a strategic instrument of economic ambition. The paper argues that while India has made genuinely historic progress, certain fault lines — particularly the constitutional vulnerability of unilateral arbitrator appointment and the unresolved legacy of pre-2025 insolvency disputes — warrant continued scholarly and regulatory attention.

Protection of Interests in Aircraft Objects Act 2025, Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam 2024, Cape Town Convention, aircraft leasing

1. Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act, 2008. (No. 27 of 2008). Gazette of India. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. (No. 26 of 1996). Gazette of India, as amended by Acts of 2015, 2019, and 2021. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. ASF Buildtech Pvt. Ltd. v. Shapoorji Pallonji and Co. Pvt. Ltd., (2025) 9 SCC 76. Supreme Court of India. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Airport Authority of India v. Aer Lingus Ltd and Others, 2025 SCC OnLine Bom 1738. Bombay High Court. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam, 2024. (No. 25 of 2024). Gazette of India. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. (No. 45 of 2023). Gazette of India. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Carriage by Air Act, 1972. (No. 69 of 1972). Gazette of India. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Chambers and Partners. (2026, May). Aviation disputes 2026 — India: Trends and developments. Global Practice Guides. https://practiceguides.chambers.com [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Commercial Courts Act, 2015. (No. 4 of 2016). Gazette of India. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment. (2001). Cape Town. UNIDROIT. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Draft Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2024. Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India (pending notification). [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. International Bar Association, Aviation Law Committee. (2026, February). Publications for aviation law committee: Flying forward — India's aviation growth story; Passenger rights in the context of IndiGo flight disruptions. IBA. https://www.ibanet.org/articles/3097 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. International Bar Association, Aviation Law Committee. (2025, July). Indian aviation takes off with Cape Town Convention and GIFT; A win for aircraft lessors — Aer Lingus prevails against AAI in 27-year legal battle. IBA. https://www.ibanet.org/articles/3097 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. (No. 31 of 2016). Gazette of India. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd. v. Rani Construction Pvt. Ltd., (2002) 2 SCC 388. Supreme Court of India. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. LinkedIn. (2025, April 2). New aviation law in India to cut aircraft leasing costs, may lower airfares. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Ministry of Civil Aviation. (2025). GIFT City aircraft leasing framework: Policy updates. Government of India. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Montreal Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air. (1999). ICAO Doc. 9740. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. Perkins Eastman Architects DPC & Anr. v. HSCC (India) Ltd., (2020) 20 SCC 760. Supreme Court of India. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. Press Information Bureau. (2025, April 3). Parliament passes the Protection of Interest in Aircraft Objects Bill, 2025 [Press release]. Government of India. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=2118797 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

21. Protection of Interests in Aircraft Objects Act, 2025. (No. 13 of 2025). Gazette of India. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

22. Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment. (2001). Cape Town. UNIDROIT. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

23. Regulation (EU) 2023/2405 of the European Parliament and of the Council (ReFuelEU Aviation). (2023). Official Journal of the European Union. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

24. Singhania & Co. (2025, June 17). India's 2025 aviation overhaul: Aircraft Objects Act and 1% SAF mandate — Insights. https://singhanialaw.com/insights-india-aviation-overhaul-2025/ [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

25. Bharat Aluminium Co. v. Kaiser Aluminium Technical Services Inc., (2012) 9 SCC 552. Supreme Court of India. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• Conflict of Law in the Safeguarding of Malaysian Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Way Forward
• Alternative Dispute Resolution in India: A Brief Overview Justice Delayed is Justice Denied. - William E. Gladstone
• The Role of Museums in Safeguarding Cultural Heritage Rights: Balancing Access and Repatriation
• An Evaluation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights' Significance and Application in Nigeria
• The Role of International Law in Shaping National Immigration Policies.