JOIN USAviation sector expected to generate 1.5 lakh jobs over next two years
The aviation sector is expected to generate 1.5 lakh new jobs in the next 18 to 30 months in the face of serious capacity constraints faced by airports in India, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has told Parliament’s Committee on Estimates. The Ministry said the fleet size of Indian carriers is expected to grow substantially which would require another 10,000 pilots in the next five years.
“Conservative estimates show that the current direct employment in the aviation and aeronautical manufacturing sector is around 2.5 lakh employees. This includes pilots, cabin crew, engineers, technicians, airport staff, ground handling, cargo, retail, security, administrative and sales staff etc. This is expected to increase to around 3.5 lakh by 2024,” the report quoted Ministry officials as saying.
The Ministry also said total direct and indirect jobs created by the aviation and aero manufacturing sector would be 20 lakh by 2024 if one takes the ratio of indirect jobs to direct jobs as 4.5. Usually, the ratio is taken at 4.8.
Nearly 50 per cent of the direct and indirect jobs created will be for blue-collar workers — loader, cleaner, driver, helper etc, the Ministry said.
Quoting the Ministry, the report noted that there is a huge shortage of commanders on certain types of aircraft. At present, there are 87 foreign pilots working on Indian carriers.
According to official data, 2,368 pilots were recruited in 2019, 400 in 2020 and 296 in 2021. In 2021, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued the highest number of 862 commercial pilot licences in its history.
The report said only ten airports out of 109 functional airports under the Airports Authority of India (AAI) managed profits in 2020-21. These include Port Blair, Visakhapatnam, Patna, Kandla, Porbandar, Srinagar, Pune, Juhu, Kanpur Chakeri and Bagdogra.
According to the data placed before the committee by the Ministry, Mangaluru International Airport incurred a loss of Rs 57.85 crore in 202-21 while Bengaluru (Civil Enclave) airport incurred a loss of Rs 39.32 crore. The losses for Hubli airport were Rs Rs 26.37 crore, Belgaum airport Rs 21.12 crore, Mysuru airport Rs 4,30 crore and Kalaburgi Rs 4.23 crore.
These statements are part of the Parliamentary panel’s report ‘Requirement of Human Capital and Physical Infrastructure to Meet the Growth of Civil Aviation Sector in India and Development of Airports in Various Parts of the Country’ tabled in Parliament on Monday.