India needs 1,000 commercial pilots every year

Jinen Gada

27 Jul 2022

The Indian civil aviation market is the fastest growing in the world and India’s airport capacity is expected to handle around 1 billion trips by the end of next year. This fast-paced growth of the civil aviation sector, however, faces a bump, with the increasing shortage of trained commercial pilots.

It is expected that for the next five years, India would need 1,000 to 1,200 new pilots every year, against the current rate of around 600-700 commercial pilots who enter the market every year. Airline industry insiders say that the shortage of pilots is forcing some airlines not to take up new routes as there aren’t many pilots available to fly.

India will require 1,000 commercial pilots every year over the next 5-6 years: Minister.

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the aviation watchdog, DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) has issued around 3,300 commercial pilot licences in India in the last five years. These include licences issued for cadets who have passed both from Indian Flying Training Organisations and Foreign Flying Training Organisations.

In the last five years, a little over 2,000 commercial pilot licences have been issued to cadets who have passed out from Indian Flying Training Organisations. Taking the last three years’ figures, there has been a slight increase in the number of commercial pilot licences issued in India.

As against 430 commercial pilot licences issued to cadets from Indian Flying Training Organisations in 2019, the number of such licences given out in 2021 increased to 504.

In the last five years, a little over 2,000 commercial pilot licences have been issued to cadets who have passed out from Indian Flying Training Organisations.

However, industry sources say that the figure is still very low as the launch of two new airlines—Akasa air and Jet Airways—would further pump up the demand for commercial pilot licences in India. Industry insiders say that with the launch of these two airlines, India would require at least 1,200 commercial pilots every year.

Airlines in India currently are dealing with the shortage of pilots by hiring commercial pilots from abroad, but foreign pilots are not given long-term licences by the DGCA and need to get their licences renewed every year from the DGCA.

This had been done by the DGCA to encourage Indian carriers to hire more Indian pilots. Sources from the pilot fraternity say that one of the reasons for the shortage of pilots in India is the high cost of pilot training and the lack of quality pilot training institutes in India.

Airline industry insiders say that the shortage of pilots is forcing some airlines not to take up new routes as there aren’t many pilots available to fly.

According to rough estimates, a commercial pilot training cost in India is about INR 60-75 lakh, depending upon the number of hours a pilot is being trained and the type of aircraft used for training.

It is also estimated that a pilot needs to submit somewhere between INR 15-20 lakh for training with the airlines before he or she is commissioned into flying passenger aircraft. The licencing procedure for pilots is also kept strict to ensure that “bad” pilots are not entering the market.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation is working towards establishing more flying schools in the country to train a greater number of commercial pilots. The Airports Authority of India approved the setting up of nine more flying schools in the country last year.

As against 430 commercial pilot licences issued to cadets from Indian Flying Training Organisations in 2019, the number of such licences given out in 2021 increased to 504.

Aviation experts feel getting the number of pilots every year will not be a problem. However, the issue is the quality of those coming out of flying schools. Aircraft are getting more sophisticated with lots of technology.

When it comes to ensuring knowledge, enhancing the minimum educational qualifications with a focus on science and engineering may provide an opportunity for the emerging pilots to get an insight into the machine that they will be handling.

ALSO READ - We need to move Pilot training to India – Jyotiraditya Scindia

Read next

Air India CEO-designate Campbell Wilson gets security clearance from the home ministry

Jinen Gada

27 Jul 2022

The Ministry of Home Affairs has given security clearance to Air India CEO-designate Campbell Wilson, clearing the way for him to take charge of the airline.

Under civil aviation rules, clearance of the home ministry is mandatory for the appointment of key personnel at airlines, including foreigners.

ALSO READ - Air India’s CEO designate to soon receive security clearance from Home Ministry

Tata Sons on May 12 announced the appointment of Campbell Wilson as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of Air India after taking over the loss-making carrier on January 27.

Air India CEO-designate Campbell Wilson gets security clearance from the home ministry

Weeks after taking over Air India carrier, Tata Sons named Turkish Airlines' former Chairman Lyker Ayci as Air India's MD and CEO. Lyker Ayci was supposed to take over the MD and CRO of the carrier in April. Lyker Ayci, however, declined to join the group amid concerns expressed over his appointment in certain quarters.

Campbell Wilson was the CEO of Singapore Airlines subsidiary Scoot Air. Singapore Airlines is a joint venture partner of Tata Group in full-service carrier Vistara.

After working with Singapore Airlines, Campbell Wilson worked for the carrier in Canada, Hong Kong and Japan. In 2011, he returned to Singapore, as the founding CEO of Scoot, which he led until 2016.

Air India was started by the Tata Group in 1932 and the carrier was nationalised in 1953. 

At Singapore Airlines, Campbell Wilson also served as the senior vice president of sales and marketing, where he oversaw pricing, distribution, e-commerce, merchandising, brand and marketing, global sales and the airline's overseas offices. In April 2020, he returned for a second stint as the CEO of Scoot Air. Twenty-six years ago, Campbell Wilson started as a management trainee with Singapore Airlines.

"The airline's best years are yet to come. The journey to make Air India a world-class airline will require efforts that are "big and small, easy and difficult."Campbell Wilson in a message to Air India’s employees

In October 2021, the government through a competitive bidding process sold Air India to Talace Private Limited, a subsidiary of Tata Sons for INR 18,000 crore.

Read next

Vijaywada water aerodrome gets INR 20 crore from Aviation Ministry

Radhika Bansal

27 Jul 2022

The ministry of civil aviation said INR 20 crore has been sanctioned for the water aerodrome at Prakasam Barrage. Vijayawada got one of the 14 water aerodromes awarded by the Centre to facilitate the sanctioned 28 seas plane routes.

General VK Singh, minister of state in the civil aviation ministry, replying to MP GVL Narasimha Rao, said the Centre has set focus on improving aerial connectivity to remote locations and making travel affordable.

The ministry of civil aviation said INR 20 crore has been sanctioned for the water aerodrome at Prakasam Barrage.

Hence it sanctioned 28 seaplane routes under the UDAN scheme. For this purpose, 14 water aerodromes are being constructed in six states/UTs for INR 287 crore.

The list of 14 water aerodromes being constructed includes one each in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (Nagarjun- asagar reservoir) for INR 20 crore each.

Narasimha Rao opined that the Andhra Pradesh government must invite airline operators and offer concessions to bid for seaplane and helicopter services from Visakhapatnam.

As cruise tourism has already received a positive response in Visakhapatnam, seaplane and helicopter services should be promoted in a big way to improve regional connectivity and tourism.

As cruise tourism has already received a positive response in Visakhapatnam, seaplane and helicopter services should be promoted in a big way to improve regional connectivity and tourism.

He also said that seaplane services to places such as Bhimavaram and Kakinada would improve connectivity and boost business in the tourism sector. Mr. Narasimha Rao further said he would pursue the matter with the Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia.

ALSO READ - Udan 4.2 scheme receives more than 100 bids

Vijayawada got one of the 14 water aerodromes awarded by the Centre to facilitate the sanctioned 28 seas plane routes.

Approximately 370 routes are being put in under the UDAN 4.2 scheme of which 100 are seaplane routes, 60-odd are helicopter routes, and the balance is fixed-wing routes.

So far, 425 UDAN routes have been operationalised across the country, connecting 68 UDAN airports, including two water aerodromes and eight heliports.

An airport which is included in the awarded routes of UDAN and requires upgradation/development for commencement of RCS (regional connectivity scheme) operations is developed under the 'Revival/upgradation of unserved and underserved airports/heliports/water aerodromes' scheme.

Read next

Air India Express renews its IOSA registration

Radhika Bansal

27 Jul 2022

Tata Group's budget carrier Air India Express has renewed its registration under the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) programme following an audit carried out by IATA.

The registration has been renewed after a rigorous assessment of the operational management and control systems of the airline. Conducted by IATA auditors, this was one of the first on-site audits post-pandemic.

Air India Express renews its IOSA registration

The audit covers about 1,000 standards and recommended practices related to the safety of operations, as well as maintenance and engineering and the procedures of the airline.

IOSA is based on industry-proven quality audit principles and is designed to ensure that each audit is conducted in a standardised manner to achieve consistent results. IOSA was established in 2003 to meet airline industry needs for common globally-harmonised operating safety standards.

“We are happy to have renewed our IOSA registration, particularly as we look to an expansion of our fleet and network soon…. Air India Express meets the international benchmarks for operational safety, and follows global industry best practices."Aloke Singh, CEO, Air India Express

All IATA members are IOSA-registered and must remain registered to maintain IATA membership. Conversely, IATA membership is not a requirement to undergo an IOSA audit. According to IATA, there are dozens of airlines on the IOSA registry that are not IATA members.

ALSO READ - Air India Express plans to add 4 Boeing 737 to keep up with rising demand

Following the disinvestment of its parent company Air India, Air India Express, is now part of the Tata Group.

Air India Express operates short and medium-haul international routes, connecting many smaller towns of India directly to the Gulf and South-East Asia regions, with a fleet of 24 Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The airline is the market leader in the low-cost carrier segment in the Gulf/Middle East region.

ALSO READ - Air India Express plans massive international expansion in the next 5 years

Following the disinvestment of its parent company Air India, Air India Express, is now part of the Tata Group. It is soon going to be merged with AirAsia India which is also owned by Tata Group to have a strong regional arm.

ALSO READ - Air India gets CCI’s approval to acquire the entire stake in AirAsia India

Read next

Satellite-based Navigation System 'GAGAN' to be active in 3-5 years: Scindia

Jinen Gada

26 Jul 2022

GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) is a step by the Indian Government toward initial Satellite-based Navigation Services in India. It is a system to improve the accuracy of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver by providing reference signals.

GAGAN is used to provide lateral and vertical guidance when an aircraft is approaching a runway for landing. Its precision is especially useful at small airports where the instrument landing system (ILS) has not been installed.

ALSO READ - Indigo becomes the first airline in Asia to use the GAGAN navigation system to land an aircraft

Indigo uses the Gagan satellite navigation system for landing.

For the first time in the history of the Indian aviation industry, IndiGo became the first airline in the country to land aircraft using the indigenous navigation system GAGAN. India is the first country in Asia Pacific Region to achieve this.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) have collaborated to develop the GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) as a regional Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS).

The GAGAN’s goal is to provide a navigation system to assist aircraft in accurate landing over the Indian airspace and in the adjoining area and applicable to safety-to-life civil operations. GAGAN is inter-operable with other international SBAS systems.

GAGAN has been developed for aviation but it will provide benefits to other sectors as well like transportation, railways, surveying, maritime, highways, telecom industry, and security agencies.

GAGAN Payload is now operational. The satellites GSAT-8 and GSAT-10 satellites have the GAGAN payloads. The third payload of the system will be launched with the GSAT-15 satellite which is scheduled for launch in late of 2015.

The total approximate cost of the project is Rs 7.74 billion and is being created in three phases since 2008.

“Using the satellite technology, we will be able to pull an aircraft into the airport, as opposed to the ground radar. That will take a lot of burden off the ATC operators and ground radar. I see that happening in the next three to five years. So that’s one area where we are using satellite technology in civil aviation,” Jyotiradtiya Scindia

GAGAN covers the area from Africa to Australia and has expansion capability for seamless navigation services across the region. GAGAN provides accuracy, availability, and integrity essential for each phase of flight, en route the approach for airports within the GAGAN service volume.

This makes airline operations more efficient and effective, increasing air safety, and fuel efficiency. Further, with vertical guidance at runways, a significant cost will be saved due to the withdrawal of ground aids and the reduced workload of airline crew and air traffic controllers.

GAGAN is the first Satellite-Based Augmentation System in the world which has been certified for approach with vertical guidance operating in the equatorial ionospheric region.

Read next

AAI undertakes the installation of night landing facility at Kolhapur airport

Radhika Bansal

26 Jul 2022

To an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha about the Night Landing facility at Airports in the country and the status of commissioning of the night landing facility at Kolhapur Airport, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation (Gen. (Dr) V. K. Singh (Retd) has responded in a written reply with the necessary details.

The response states that the up-gradation/modernisation of airports, including the provision of night landing facilities is a continuous process and is undertaken by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and other airport operators from time to time depending on the availability of land, commercial viability, socio-economic considerations, traffic demand/willingness of airlines to operate to/from such airports etc.

AAI undertakes the installation of night landing facility at Kolhapur airport

Presently night landing facility which is purely demand and need based on the operational requirements of airlines and availability of land is not available at 25 operational airports with scheduled flight operations.

ALSO READ - No night-landing facility at 23 AAI-operated airports

AAI has undertaken the installation of a night landing facility at Kolhapur airport. A team of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) inspected the airport on June 10, 2022. AAI has already initiated action for compliance with the observations made by DGCA during the inspection.

STATENAME OF THE AIRPORTAndhra PradeshCudappah, KurnoolAssamRupsiArunachal PradeshTezu, PassighatChattisgarhBilaspur, JagdalpurDaman & DiuDiuGujratKeshodHaryanaHisarHimachal PradeshDharamshala, Kulu and ShimlaJharkhandDeogharKarnatakaKalaburagiLakshadweepAgattiMaharashtraKolhapur, SindhudurgPunjabLudhianaPuducherryPuducherrySikkimPakyongTamil NaduSalemUttarakhandPantnagar, PithoragarhUttar PradeshKushinagarOperational Airports with Scheduled flight operations without night landing facility

The country has over 100 operational airports and officials said that the airports not having night landing facilities are mostly those recording lower air passenger traffic.

Airports Authority of India, which manages most of the airports in India, takes up a particular one for consideration for providing night landing facilities when airlines show interest during night operations.

Airlines have to apply with the Airports Authority of India to facilitate a night landing facility in a particular airport and then the process of offering the convenience starts.

The country has over 100 operational airports and officials said that the airports not having night landing facilities are mostly those recording lower air passenger traffic.

The upgradation of airports, including the provision of night landing facility is a continuous process, which depends upon operational requirements, commercial feasibility, etc, and varies from airport to airport in the country, said the ministry of civil aviation in a recent Parliament reply.

The main requirement for night landing is the runway approach lighting system which includes a series of light bars with strobe lights installed at the end of the runway.

Comment