Day two of Wings India-2024 witnessed a thought-provoking session on skill development and startup nurturing in the aviation industry. Speakers across the board such as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), flight training professionals, startup founders and policymakers participated in it.
The speakers unanimously agreed on the dearth of trained manpower in the country. “While Indian airlines are placing massive orders, the trend is not percolating down to a student-level, with limited or no focus on aerospace engineering,” said Varun Suhag, managing director of Air Taxi, adding that there was a need to recognise and retain talent, too.
Major Indian airlines and airports have been struggling with manpower shortage amid post-pandemic air traffic surge.
India today issues1100-1200 commercial pilot licenses (CPL) a year, with 30-40% of India’s pilot training happening abroad. Experts estimate that the country would require about 2,500-3,000 pilots in the coming year, but it is producing only 1/3rd of that number due to a lack of adequate infrastructure (flight schools and fleet for training) and flight trainers.
The country has only a low single-digit number of full-fledged flight academies and lacks flight instructors to train young pilots, according to Y.N. Sharma, chief executive officer of Chimes Aviation Private Limited. Many flight training organisations (FTO) in India are shut owing to a lack of flight instructors, said Ravi Vikram Singh, managing director of Indian Flying Academy.
Stakeholders also underlined the infrastructure constraints that delay FTO-related processes. Mr. Vikram Singh advocated faster release of FTO licences and opined that the Airports Authority of India should have the infrastructure in place to speed up paperwork and processes related to FTOs.
According to experts, increasing the frequency of tests for flight instructors to once a month is necessary to meet the demand gap. “Foreign instructors’ (FATA) clearances need to be fast-tracked to deal with the issue of flight instructor shortage,” Chuck Pulakhandam, country leader-India and managing director of CAE India, suggested.
Not just India, countries like Singapore with bigger airports like Changi, are also struggling with manpower shortage and looking for collaborations with peers, including India, to meet the demand, How Choon Onn, advisor of Changi Airport, indicated.
It is not the pilot shortage, the industry, which sees about 15% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), is also fighting the scarcity of quality engineers, an area often ignored.
“Entry into the Indian aviation industry and ease of doing business were both in question. The regulatory environment has to be friendly and consistent with some of the other models around the world,” said Romy Howatt, founder and chairman of the Airways Aviation Group.
