Sources and method

1. 1Download both DGCA PDFs on a schedule, and keep the original files with their sha256 hashes for every snapshot.
2. 2Parse each page positionally with poppler's word boxes, since the PDFs are spreadsheets printed flat rather than tagged tables.
3. 3Strip the repeated header overlay DGCA stamps on every page, and re-join registrations that the renderer split across lines.
4. 4Normalise types and enrich each record with ICAO hex addresses and type designators from the tar1090 aircraft database.
5. 5Each month, snapshot the parsed lists, diff them against the previous snapshot, and select a Wikimedia Commons photo for each registration.

• ns-oper.pdf

  Non-scheduled operators · as on 31 Aug 2026 · 471 aircraft · 139 operators

  sha256 258318a0036ac695e3b71525b8c38719165c48915f7a875e25d52f6056ad2f4a

• sch-oper.pdf

  Scheduled operators · as on 31 Aug 2026 · 835 aircraft · 12 operators

  sha256 9bbd7f469c3c404adac98fe2236e6afe01b21f549707503827906cda9eff7d90

• DGCA aircraft registration and deregistration reports

  October 2009 to date (July to December 2021 is scanned and not read): registration and deregistration dates, serial numbers, year of manufacture, owners and lessors. The current year is re-read every month.

• DGCA list of flying training organisations

  Every approved flying school, its bases and approval, and the aircraft it lists. Refreshed monthly.

• Wayback Machine captures of the DGCA operator lists

  Earlier editions of both lists back to 2005, which date when aircraft joined, left or moved between operators.

• tar1090-db

  Mode S hex addresses and ICAO type designators.

• VRS standing-data (CC0)

  Build year and serial number where DGCA's reports have none, and engine count and wake category per type.

• Wikimedia Commons

  Photographs, each credited with its photographer and licence.

The core index is every aircraft on a scheduled or non-scheduled operator permit. Flying school aircraft come from DGCA’s separate list of flying training organisations. Privately owned and state government aircraft have no current public list: they appear only when a registration report names them, and their pages carry only what those reports say. DGCA has not published a full register extract since 2019.