DGCA flies in to plug shortage; plans to hire 250 foreign pilots

New Delhi: Faced with a mounting shortage of over 500 commercial pilots every year, action has been initiated on several fronts to mitigate the problem. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will reduce the period for acquiring a commercial pilot licence (CPL) from 16 to 12 months, and will introduce an multi-engine pilot licence (MPL) in 2007. The DGCA will also grant CPL to about 250 foreign pilots in Q1 next year.
Besides, DGCA will acquire about 11 trainer aircraft from the Aero Club of India, and distribute them to top aviation training academies at a cost of Rs 1 crore per aircraft. “A new pilot training institute in Gondia near Nagpur will also be opened for which expressions of interest (EOIs) have already been invited from foreign companies for collaboration.
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The intake per session for the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA) will be increased to 100 from 40 at present,” DGCA director general Kanu Gohain told ET.
Currently, about 500 pilots are needed per year, whereas only 200 pilots are being produced in India. With these measures, DGCA plans to increase the availability to about 400 pilots. There are about 39 pilot training schools in the country now.
30/12/06 Vishakha Talreja & Harsimran Singh/Economic Times