Lok Sabha Question No. 4655 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-31
Subject: Training for Commercial Pilot Licence
Ministry: CIVIL AVIATION
Asked by: Jaswantsinh Sumanbhai Bhabhor

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CIVIL AVIATION LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. : 4655

(To be answered on the 31 st  March 2022)

## TRAINING FOR COMMERCIAL PILOT LICENCE

## 4655. SHRI JASWANT SINGH BHABHOR

## Will the Minister of CIVIL AVIATION

be pleased to state:-

- (a) the total number of the Commercial Pilot Licences issued by the Indian aviation training institutes in comparision to the pilot licences issued from the foreign countries during the last three years;
- (b)  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  meet  the  demands  of  skilled manpower like pilot in the growing aviation;
- (c) the state-wise number of air ambulance in service in the country along with the number of the patient hired air ambulance during the last three years; and
- (d) the steps taken by the Government to make this facility more accessible to the rural areas, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

Minister of State in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION

(GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD))

- (a) The number of Commercial Pilot Licenses (CPL) issued in India to cadets from Indian and foreign Flying Training Organizations (FTOs) in the last three years is as follows:
- (b) The Government has taken several steps to meet the  demand of pilots in the country.  These include the following:
- (i) The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has brought out a liberalised Flying Training Organisation (FTO) policy wherein the concept of airport royalty (revenue share payment by FTOs to AAI) has been abolished and land rentals have been significantly rationalised.
- (ii) AAI issued award letters on 31 May 2021 and 29 October 2021 for nine

|   Year 2019 |   Indian FTOs 430 |   Foreign FTOs 314 |   Total 744 |
|-------------|-------------------|--------------------|-------------|
|        2020 |               335 |                243 |         578 |
|        2021 |               504 |                358 |         862 |

FTOs to be established at five airports i.e. two at Belagavi (Karnataka), two at Jalgaon (Maharashtra), two at Kalaburagi (Karnataka), two at Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh) and one at Lilabari (Assam). (iii) DGCA has introduced Online-On Demand Examination (OLODE) for the Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (AME) and Flying Crew (FC) candidates with effect from November 2021. This facility allows candidates to choose the date and time from the available exam slots. (iv) DGCA has modified its regulations to empower Flying Instructors with the right to authorise flight operations at FTOs. This was hitherto restricted to the Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) or Deputy CFIs only. (v) India's largest flying academy - Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA) at Amethi (Uttar Pradesh) - has been permitted to carry out pilot training in Gondia (Maharashtra) and Kalaburagi (Karnataka) to enhance its flying hours and aircraft utilisation, which get severely affected during winter months due to low visbility.  IGRUA has commenced operating on all weekends and holidays. It completed 19,019 flying hours during the year 2021 as compared to 15,137 hours in the pre-Covid year 2019, an increase of over 25%.

(c) & (d) There are 49 air ambulances (Aeroplane and helicopter) operating under Aero Medical Transportation (AMT) by 19 non-scheduled operators in the country. The state-wise split of air ambulances is as follows: Delhi (39), Gujarat (1), Kerala (2), Maharashtra (5), Odisha (1) and West Bengal (1). Around 4100 patients have hired ambulances during the last three years.  The air ambulance services are available in rural areas on a need and availability basis.

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