There is no shortage of Pilots/Crews in the Indian Aviation Sector

The Government has formulated the National Civil Aviation Policy, 2016 to provide a conducive ecosystem for overall growth of the Indian Aviation Sector, which involves infrastructure development of airports through Greenfield projects as well as under the UDAN scheme.

Further, there is no shortage of Pilots/Crews in the Indian Aviation Sector. However, there is a shortage of commanders on certain types of aircraft and the same is being managed by utilizing foreign pilots by issuing Foreign Aircrew Temporary Authorization (FATA).

The number of Commercial Pilot Licenses (CPLs) issued during last five years is as mentioned below-

Years Issued CPLs;
2019 744
2020 578
2021 862
2022 1165
2023 1622
2024 (till 17.07.2024) 739
Total 5710

DGCA has issued regulation, CAR-147 (Basic) – approved Basic Maintenance Training organization. The regulations are in line with international standards of ICAO i.e. EASA regulations.

The students on completing training under CAR-147 (Basic) approved institute and on passing the requisite DGCA examinations become eligible for issue of Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (AME) licence.

Currently, there are 57 AME Training Institutes have been approved by DGCA under CAR-147 (Basic). The estimated supply from AME Training Institute approved under CAR 147(Basic) is around 3500 per year, which is sufficient to cater the demand of Indian civil aviation Industry.

The other initiatives taken by the Government for skill development in civil aviation sector include the following:

  1. In order to augment the supply of trained pilots in the country, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has brought out a liberalised Flying Training Organisation (FTO) policy whereby the concept of airport royalty (revenue share payment by FTOs to AAI) has been abolished and land rentals have been significantly rationalised.
  2. In 2021, after a competitive bidding process, AAI awarded nine FTO slots at five airports at Belagavi (Karnataka), Jalgaon (Maharashtra), Kalaburagi (Karnataka), Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh) and Lilabari (Assam). In June 2022, under second round of bidding, six FTO slots were awarded by AAI at five airports namely: two slots at Bhavnagar (Gujarat), and one each at Hubballi (Karnataka), Kadappa (Andhra Pradesh), Kishangarh (Rajasthan) and Salem (Tamil Nadu).
  3. DGCA has introduced Online-On Demand Examination (OLODE) for the Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (AME) and Flying Crew (FC) candidates with effect from November 2021. This facility allows candidates to choose the date and time from the available exam slots.
  4.  DGCA has modified its regulations to empower Flying Instructors with the right to authorise flight operations at FTOs. This was hitherto restricted to the Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) or Deputy CFIs only.

The details of order placed by scheduled airlines is mentioned below

Aircraft orders placed by Major Airlines

S. No. Name of the operator Type of
aircraft
No. of
aircraft
ordered
Year No. of aircraft
already
imported as
on 30.06.2024
Tentative
timelines for
induction
1 Air India Group A320/A321 210 2023 23 2023 to 2032
A350 40 2023 6 2023 to 2032
B787 20 2023 2025 to 2034
B777 10 2023 2025 to 2034
B737-8 190 2023 22 2023 to 2032
2 Inter Globe Aviation Limited (Indigo) A320 Family 400 2015 205 Ongoing
A320 Family 300 2019 2025 onwards
A320 Family 500 2023 2030 onwards
A350 30 2024    
ATR 72-212A (600 Version) 50 2017 45 Ongoing
3 SNV Aviation Pvt. Ltd. (Akasa Air) 13737-8 76 2021 23 Ongoing and will be inducted until 2028
B737-8 150 2024 2027 to 2032
Total 1976   324  

 Source: Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)

Note:

  1. Aircraft induction by the airline operators would be accompanied with re­delivery/export of their existing aircraft in line with expiry of the lease periods. The aircraft induction would therefore cater for increase in airline fleet as well as replacement of existing fleet over the time.
  2. Airline operators would plan/optimize their fleet over the time based on commercial considerations.