India is to get its first female aviation authority chief, officials have said.
M Sathiyavathy will become Director General of Civil Aviation for a term of three years.
She takes over from Prabhat Kumar and is expected to start work in the new position from Monday January 5.
She was previously appointed as Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor of the Civil Aviation Ministry last February.
The top level change comes as India awaits a decision from the US Federal Aviation Administration on whether it will regain Category-I safety rating enabling Indian carriers to apply for routes to the US.
FAA officials were in India last month auditing DCGA and will announce a decision in February.
Over the last twelve months her predecessor Kumar had drawn up new protocols for airlines to improve safety standards and beefed up DCGA inspection teams which have been carrying out unannounced checks on scheduled and charter airlines.
