DGCA initiatives address growing shortage of pilots in the country

New Delhi: The country's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said that it will reduce the period for acquiring a commercial pilot licence (CPL) from 16 to 12 months, and also that it will introduce an multi-engine pilot licence (MPL) in 2007. The DGCA's action comes in the face of a mounting shortage of pilots in the country, estimated at over 500 commercial pilots every year

The DGCA will also grant CPL to about 250 foreign pilots in Q1 next year.

The DGCA has now launched a series of initiatives addressed at mitigating the problems faced by the country's booming aviation sector. The authority has also announced that it will acquire about 11 trainer aircraft from the Aero Club of India, which it will distribute amongst top aviation training academies. The aircraft will be requisitioned at a cost Rupees one crore each. The distribution of these aircraft will be done only after a performance evaluation is made of the training schools, with the 11 best performing schools receiving the trainers.

Amongst the other initiatives announced by the authority, a new pilot training institute will set up at Gondia near Nagpur. The DGCA has said that expressions of interest (EOIs) have already been invited from foreign companies for collaboration in setting up of the institute. The DGCA has also said that the intake per session at the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA) will now be increased to 100 from 40 at present.

These initiatives are designed to increase the availability of pilots in the country to about 400. Against a requirement of about 500 pilots per year, the country is producing only about 200. There country has about 39 pilot training schools.

The DGCA has also announced that about 250 foreign pilots will be granted a CPL, as an interim measure, to offset the shortage. Industry sources estimate the number of foreign pilots currently operating in the country at about 475.