What happened
Following a systemic collapse of India's leading budget carrier, the aviation regulator has been forced into an unprecedented overextension of its reach. In what experts are calling 'Aviation Theatre,' the DGCA has begun micro-managing internal business decisions that were previously the airline's responsibility. Fliers are now waiting for the day the regulator personally checks if the middle-seat passenger has enough legroom or if the chicken sandwich is sufficiently 'corporate.' The crisis has revealed that in Indian aviation, the sky isn't the limit—the paperwork is.