Newstrack

US, Russia to attract large number of pilots

India may continue facing pilot crunch

Chetan Kapoor - Mumbai

Unless the DGCA pulls up its socks related to pilot training and converting licences, India may continue facing pilot shortage as aircraft orders in other countries is also on the rise.

According to a source, Airbus has been upbeat about its future business links with two major countries namely the United States and Russia. At a recently held top bracket gathering of Airbus officials in the United Kingdom, it was revealed that the United States is expected to place about 6,000 orders by 2026 for domestic operations alone and Russia will receive 900 aircraft in the coming years.

Also, according to Boeing's Current Market Outlook 2007, 28,600 new airplanes will be delivered till 2026 which will make up 80 per cent of the 36,400 airplanes in service then. It also estimates that many more markets will receive a strong boost as governments ease regulations that have previously restricted market access and that developing regions, including the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) markets are becoming more influential on the world stage. The outlook also foresees the domestic North American markets to recover in the medium to long term.

If these projections and figures are to be believed, this will lead to a direct increase in demand for pilots to serve these new aircraft and routes. This demand from US and Russia may have a direct impact on the demand of pilots in India.

As the present status goes, there are a number of aspirants who intend to pursue their careers are pilots and register themselves in flying schools abroad. After the completion of their training programme the pilots go through another round of tedious process to finally get their licence converted to fly in India.

Hence with more demand being created abroad, these Indian pilot aspirants may prefer to continue their career off shores rather than attempt working in the Indian environment, which makes it extremely tough for them to finally get started due to innumerable bottlenecks, rules and procedures. Pilots training outside India need to convert their licences and appear for examinations which take place every four months - a rather long process before being eligible to fly in the country.

According to the source requesting anonymity, "Assuming that one aircraft needs ten pilots and growth in relation to the increasing demand in India not taking off, pilots training internationally should stay in those countries and add up their flying hours. Being an instructor would also ensure quick return on investment instead of coming to India."