TBM Staff - Mumbai
The shortage of senior pilots poses a significant challenge for India’s civil aviation sector, potentially impacting operations, fleet expansion plans, and profitability, according to Jaideep Mirchandani, Chairman, Sky One. On World Pilots Day, Mirchandani highlighted the looming challenges if the demand-supply gap in pilots widens further.
Boeing’s Commercial Market Outlook (CMO) 2024 projects a quadrupling of South Asia’s aviation fleet over the next 20 years, with India’s aviation sector driving much of this growth. The region is expected to require 37,000 pilots and 38,000 maintenance technicians in the next two decades. However, with many senior pilots nearing retirement, there’s a pressing need to recruit and train the next generation of aviators. Currently, 38% of the civil aviation industry pilot pool is over 50 years old, indicating a wave of retirements in the next decade.
Mirchandani warns that the potential pilot shortage could hinder airlines’ ability to meet rising travel demand, maintain flight schedules, and execute fleet expansion plans, affecting profitability. While there have been discussions about extending the retirement age for commercial pilots beyond 65, Mirchandani suggests that improving pay scales, offering increased incentives, addressing pilot fatigue, and encouraging more women to join the sector would be more sustainable solutions.
Training also presents a challenge, with the path to becoming a senior pilot requiring significant time and resources. Mirchandani emphasises the need for more airlines to partner with pilot training institutes to address this issue.
The Civil Aviation Ministry has taken steps to establish more flying schools across India to train commercial pilots, with the Airports Authority of India awarding Flying Training Organization (FTO) slots and issuing Commercial Pilot Licenses (CPLs). However, Mirchandani stresses the importance of FTOs focusing on quality training, safety standards, fairness in exams, and strict surveillance to nurture the next generation of Indian aviators.
Mirchandani’s Pier Seven Aviation academy is offering advanced flight simulator training to aspiring pilots, aiming to contribute to the development of skilled aviators for the future of India’s aviation sector.
