Requirement of Airline Pilots in India

On September 14 this year, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri stated “An estimated 9,488 pilots will be required in India in the next five years. The total number of pilots employed in the country with scheduled airlines at present is 9,073. Around 700 to 800 Commercial Pilot Licences (CPLs) are issued by the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), in a year. Of these, 30 per cent CPLs are given to those who have undergone training with flying schools located outside India.” The Minister of Civil Aviation further added that the civil aviation sector had been hit severely by the COVID-19 Pandemic. In the past few months therefore, all domestic carriers had instituted various cost-cutting measures such as pay cuts, layoffs or leave without pay.