Sources tell mid-day shortage of certified instructors is main reason behind 17 percent drop in number of licences issued. Apart from this, the DGCA is not even transparent about the number of CFIs at flight schools. They should make a dashboard, which updates every month with the current number of Instructors and CFIs with each flight school
It takes two years to get a commercial pilot licence in India as opposed to a year in other countries. Representation Pic/iStock
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued 1,342 commercial pilot licences (CPLs) in 2024, a 17 per cent dip from the 2023 figure of 1,622. While DGCA hasn’t clarified the reason for this, the Government Aviation Training Institute’s MD has attributed it to a shortage of certified flight instructors.
The situation is bound to create a bottleneck as aircraft ordered by various commercial airlines are on their way. Captain Jati Dhillon, managing director of the Government Aviation Training Institute (GATI), explaining the drop in the number of CPLs issued told mid-day, “The major factor in play is the shortage of instructors in India. The DGCA takes too long to make an instructor. It takes eight to 10 months to become an instructor. Also, many airlines have come up and lots of experienced people have left flying schools to join them, reducing the number of instructors in the country.”
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Commercial aircraft at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. File Pic/Satej Shinde
He added, “In other parts of the world, it takes three to four months to make an instructor.” Explaining the time required to get a CPL in India compared to other countries, Captain Dhillon added, “It takes a year to get a CPL in other countries whereas it takes two years in India. The reason for this is again the shortage of instructors and aircraft in India. In India, CPL exams are held every three months whereas abroad, the exams are held practically every day. Overseas, it is an on-demand examination with an online process to fill up the form and request an examination. Whenever one wants to take a CPL exam abroad, one has to go to the examination centre and appear for the test. The authorities in India have now started holding exams every month but there are only 50 seats available at a time.”
Instructor tests
According to Captain Dhillon, approximately 70 aspiring instructors are waiting to be tested. “This is exactly where the problem lies. Surprisingly, these individuals have been waiting for more than three months. This has a cascading effect. We will have few instructors and it will take longer for them to become CFIs [certified flight instructors] and CFI-Cs [certified flight instructors-commercial]. And without CFIs, flight schools cannot function.
Apart from this, the DGCA is not even transparent about the number of CFIs at flight schools. They should make a dashboard, which updates every month with the current number of Instructors and CFIs with each flight school. If a flight school has one CFI, they can only operate for eight hours due to the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTLs) but if there are more, they can be rotated in shifts so that the flight school can function for longer.”
More pilots needed
The GATI managing director stated that India needs to produce 2,000 CPL-holding pilots every year for the next ten years considering the number of aircraft ordered by airlines to meet the demand. This means, India needs to produce 20,000 pilots to meet the demand in the next 10 years and provide relief to existing pilots.
Hemanth D P, CEO of Asia Pacific Flight Training Academy, said, “India can actually cater to local demand and even foreign countries by adopting deregulation and the best global practices.” He added that would help in the speedy induction of training aircraft which, can take up to six months due to multiple NOCs and approvals from regulatory bodies. “More slots and speedy clearance are also required for class I medical exams and certification,” he said.
Aspiring pilots need to clear an examination for radio telephony proficiency, which used to be conducted by the Department of Telecommunications. Now, the examination will be conducted by DGCA. “The move will ease pilot certification processes and support the increasing demand for aviation professionals,” Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said in an X post last month.
Other factors
An aviation industry analyst, on the condition of anonymity, said “Shortage of spare parts and aircraft, disruption in aviation gasoline supply in March and April among other factors, slowed down training at flying schools in the country. This, in turn, impacted the number of licences issued last year.”
The analyst added, “When the new aircraft start coming in, they will require pilots to fly them. This is when passengers will be affected as well. If the number of pilots is inadequate, flights will be delayed as the pilots who are supposed to land at a particular airport will need time for pre-flight briefings as well as other aviation criteria that need to be met before a flight.
They need to accept a certain amount of fuel before flights, which happens only when pilots reach the airport. At some airports, refuelling is done by fuel trucks, which means that it takes more time. The cabin [cockpit] needs to be prepared for flights as well. Apart from this, pre-flight checklists as well as aircraft inspection need to be done by pilots before flights. If any of these procedures are delayed, there could be cascading effects.” An email query sent to the DGCA went unanswered by press time.
Aircraft demand and supply
>> Since 2018, Indian airlines have ordered 1,742 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing, of which 78 have been received with the rest likely to start arriving from mid-2025.
>> IndiGo ordered the most aircraft, 1,000, in April 2024. They are expected to arrive from Airbus between mid-2027 and 2032. Air India placed an order for 570 aircraft in June 2023, and they are expected to start arriving from mid-2025 onwards. The order includes 290 Boeing and 250 Airbus aircraft. Akasa Air has placed orders for 226 aircraft. Between 2021 and 2023, the airline placed orders for 76 Boeing 737 MAX planes, of which 22 were received. The rest are expected to arrive between 2027 and 2032. Apart from the 76 aircraft, the airline also placed an order for 150 more 737 MAX aircraft, which are expected to arrive between 2027 and 2032.
>> SpiceJet CEO Ajay Singh recently announced plans to buy 75 more aircraft, taking the fleet past the 100 mark. Orders, however, are yet to be placed.
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