Following are the exerpts from the report "Market Opportunities for Civil Aviation Products and Services : Pilot and Engineering Personal Training" published by National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore published in August 1994.

• The current annual requirement world over is approximately 10,900 pilots.
• Annual requirement of pilots of chosen ICAO regions (Asia) is 1986 pilots.
• Presently India has a airlines fleet size of 96 aircrafts and pilot strength is 1128.
• Expected airline fleet size is 233 and required pilot strength will be 2196 by the year 2000.

• Overall annual requirement of Commercial Pilot Licence holder for Civil Aircraft Operations including Airlines, Flying Clubs, Corporates, individual aircraft owners is 237.
• Number of Commercial Pilot Licence holder required per year for airlines is 153.
• Present annual number of Commercial Pilots available in India is 80-100.
• Presently India is facing shortage of 50-70 pilots annually for airline operations.
• Individual Aircraft Owners require 1400 pilots as per the ratio of two pilots per aircraft.

1.2.1 PILOT TRAINING

The minimum qualification that a pilot requires to fly a large passenger aircraft is the Commercial Pilot's Licence, (CPL). In future, upto year 2000, India requires 150 CPL's annually to match the growing fleet sizes of existing and new airline operators. The number of CPL's presently available per year is only around 80-100.

Under ideal conditions, viz. 6 hours of flying is done daily on each of the 70 aircraft for 200 days of the year, India can train upto 290 CPL's annually. The reasons for the present low turnover of CPL's are :

1. India is not producing enough new pilots (PPL's) - Each year, about 500 hopeful students enroll for pilot training in 27 flying clubs around the country. They are provided training that is heavily subsidized by DGCA, covering 85% of the hourly flying charges for first 60 hours. But, there is a shortage of aircraft and the schools have, on any particular day, about 70 aircraft in airworthy condition.
2. The dropout rate from flying courses is high - one fifth, i.e. 100 students manage PPL after initial 40 hours of flying. Of these, 40% go on to complete 250 hours of flying to qualify for CPL. The non-availability of a structured course, possibly of a residential nature, with these flying clubs, as well as the high cost of flying after the first 60 hours (Rs. 1000 / hour) could be the reason for this high dropout rate.

3.3 DEMAND & SUPPLY - PILOT TRAINING

As the Asian economy especially that of Far East, Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent, gathers momentum, Asia international and national airlines will need to increase their pilot strength, on a continous basis. It might be possible for these airlines to meet the initial incremental pilot requirement by taking either airforce pilots or expatriate pilots on lease from bodies like Pare (a subsidiary of Aer Lingus), AWAS (Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services), IASCO etc. But, in the long run, ab initio training will prove to be a must, as the airforce will not allow large scale poaching and taking expatriate pilots will become more expensive.

3.3.1 INDIAN SCENARIO

The three major segments that require pilots, exclusive of the defence force, are as under :

1. Govt. owned Airlines (Indian Airlines & Air India)
2. Private Airlines
3. Individual Aircraft Owners

While the airlines have a CPL as their prerequisite, the individual aircraft owners usually require pilots with a PPL only, though not necessary always. While the aircraft requirement of Airline Operators is reasonably well defined, that of the individual aircraft owners is fairly flexible.

3.3.1.1 PRESENT & FUTURE REQUIREMENTS

AIRLINE OPERATORS

Prior to the "Open Skies Policy" formulated in the late 80's there were just two Airlines operating in the country namely Indian Airlines and Vayudoot and one international airline namely Air India.

This policy did not invoke required response from the private operators as only two parties i.e. UB Air and Air Asiatic commence operations, though not profitably the reason for this lack of response was :

1. Lack of indigenious aircraft manufaturers.
2. Restrictions on import of aircraft.

Subsequently, with liberalization following the "Open Skies Policy", it became easier to acquire aircraft and, as result, a number of private airlines have regular operations today. These are : East West Airlines, Damania Airways, Jet Airways, Modiluft, Sahara International, Archana Airways, Raj Air, NEPC-MICON

These airlines are not facing any pilot shortage presently, except for Indian Airlines, which requires more commanders (i.e. ATPL's) but has adequate CPL's.

While Indian Airlines and Air Idia have already estimated their requirement of pilots, the private operators have forwarded their fleet acquisition plans and these have been used alongwith the present pilot-fleet ratio, to arrive at their requirement of pilots by the end of the century.

The present pilot-fleet ratios, used for calculating the future pilot requirement of various airlines are :

National Airlines - 8 pilots : 1 aircraft.
International Airlines - 12 pilots : 1 aircraft

The total number of CPL's required by the existing airlines in the country is 2196. With more operators entering the arena, this number is likely to be higher.

INDIVIDUAL OWNERS

Besides airline operators, aircraft are also used by companies and individuals. These are usually smaller aircrafts not operated for remuneration, and thus requiring only a PPL holding pilot to fly them. It should be noted, however that these smaller aircraft might also be flown by pilots with a CPL qualification. The pilot - fleet ratio for this aircraft will be much lower than that for the commercial airlines. This ratio has been taken as 2 pilots : 1 aircraft for the of the analysis.

As all aircraft in the country are registered with the DGCA, it has been found that from DGCA's list of registered aircraft that, in general, the jet aircraft are owned by airline operators and the smaller ones by individuals.

Thus, the requirement of pilots holding the PPL in the country today is arrived at by using a pilot - fleet ratio of 2 and the total number of small aircraft from the LTA survey made by National Aeronautics Laboratories Ltd. in the following manner :

Total number of small aircraft : 700
Required number of pilots with PPL : 1400

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