Indian aviation poised for take-off, but missing pilots

Emerging from its shrunken operations of the pandemic years, the Indian aviation industry has directly leapt into a massive fleet expansion mode. But, as much reported, it is staring at a serious paucity of pilots. So glaring is the situation that recently, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia, announced that the government would ease up on Foreign Aircrew Temporary Authorisation (FATA) appointments. Only, the country so starved of pilots is estimated to have over 6,000 unemployed commercial pilot license (CPL) holders.

”While there is no such database, the unofficial number could be anywhere between 6000-9000 pilots,” an industry source close to the matter told DH on condition of anonymity. Earlier this year, Arun Kumar, the outgoing chief of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) pegged the figure to be between 5000-6000. So what is going wrong?

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Industry observers familiar with hiring trends say the demand is skewed in favour of more experienced pilots. The result – a Catch-22 situation – freshers are not absorbed, depriving them of the experience the market needs, pointed out Capt Sanjay Karve NM, the chief pilot and accountable manager for the Maharashtra government.

Inadequate flying school

India, presently, has 35 flight training organisations (FTOs) which, experts say, is not enough. That apart, the number of type-rating facilities (where a licensed pilot is trained and certified for flying a particular type of aircraft) is also insufficient.

Against this backdrop, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Gen VK Singh (Retd), told the Parliament in March, India needs 1,000 pilots per annum over the next five years.

Fleeing to greener pastures

The thin recruitment has put too much pressure on the existing experienced pilots who complain of being overworked and having an unacceptable work-life balance. The foreign pilots hired by Indian carriers being paid almost 2-3 times more than their Indian counterparts has added to this frustration. So Indian pilots are also looking for greener pastures on foreign shores, threatening the already strained supply of cockpit personnel.

FATA hires

Carriers looked at hiring foreign pilots before and are turning to that solution again. “We have had to hire expatriate pilots temporarily to allow us to operate these aircraft until we are able to train our own pilots to take over,” informed Suresh Dutt Tripathi, Chief Human Resource Officer, Air India.

But the count of foreign pilots employed by Indian airlines has fallen sharply over the last few years, from 404 in 2019 to 87 in 2022 and subsequently 67 in 2023 due to the global shortage.

The urgency

Indian airlines have been very slow in picking up talent. “Only 200-300 pilots have been hired across airlines every year, which is only a fifth of the actual requirement,” highlighted Pallavi Chawla, Director of Recruitment, Alliance International, an agency hiring pilots for top Indian carriers.

DGCA data showed that out of 863 commercial pilot licenses (CPL) issued in 2021, only 244 pilots were recruited. The number of CPLs issued is also declining.

DGCA failed to share the latest data on CPLs issued and pilots hired, despite repeated queries from DH.

Lately, carriers have woken up to the need to fill the gap and fast. Air India is expected to hire close to 1000 pilots this year. Other airlines including Indigo and Akasa are also increasing their headcount significantly.

FY23 saw Indian airlines hire 60% more pilots than they did in 2019-20, Chawla added.

Quo Vadis? The way out

“Airlines should strike a balance between using their experienced pilots for line flying checks and training/consolidation of raw pilots. The focus should be on grooming CPL holders to pilot in command (PIC) with adequate hours of flying,” Karve advised.

Chawla insisted that fresher hiring will see a 20% hike next year.

“We also fast-tracked command upgrades for the pilots to ensure that their career paths are well aligned to their professional aspirations,” a Vistara spokesperson told DH.

Mark Martin, Chief Executive Officer, Martin Consulting urged Indian CPL holders to step ahead and augment required flying hours by flying cargo, charter and private operations, or ferrying aircraft at lower salaries.

That said, Akshat Agarwal, Consultant – Innovation and Research Centre, CAPA India is convinced that the aviation manpower shortage will persist over the next 10-15 years.