Pilot license span hiked to 10 years, but India still faces shortage of pilots
Photo credit Bareili airport
By Sanjay Singh
New Delhi, October 18: As India grapples with shortage of pilots, the government has gone ahead to ease rules and restrictions for pilots with increasing the validity period of their pilot license from five to 10 years.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation latest amendment to the aircraft rules notified on October 10 stated that the validity period of the airline transport pilot’s license (ATPL) and commercial pilot’s license (CPL) has been extended to 10 years each. They will be issued to pilots at the time when their licenses are up for renewal. Interestingly, in 2014, the pilot license renewal period was enhanced from two to five years.
Indian carriers have placed orders for over 1,115 planes which would be delivered till 2033 and the bulk of these planes are expected in next two years. While a narrow-body commercial plane, which flies on domestic routes, requires around 15 pilots to ensure smooth operations, a wide-body aircraft would need anywhere around 26 pilots, given that they fly international routes.
As India has a lesser number of wide-body planes when compared with narrow bodied planes, and with an estimated 15 pilots per plane on narrow bodied would mean around 18,000 pilots are required over the next decade.
However, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) generally registers around 750 commercial pilot licenses (CPL) holders every year. India India currently has 9,000 pilots who fly 700 narrow and wide planes currently registered with DGCA.
According to Aviation advisory and research firm CAPA around 175 of the new planes would arrive by next year and require 2,000 more pilots to fly them. Around 1,100 ordered planes arriving within five years, India would need 2800 pilots every year.
However, with Go First having filed for bankruptcy, industry says the aircraft ordered by it could be picked up by other Indian carriers given the growing air travel demand amongst Indians.
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