Licensed pilots aplenty, yet few make the cut

Bangalore: Over the last two years, lured by lucrative opportunity that had opened up in the Indian skies, many rushed to get a CPL.
As a result, today, the market is flooded with CPL holders.
Hitesh Patel, executive vice-president, Kingfisher Airlines, said there is much to choose from when it comes to candidates at the CPL level.
But S Ravi Narayanan, CEO and managing director of Jupiter Aviation, a general aviation firm, points out that out of 100 applicants, airlines barely get 15-20 pilots who meet their requirements.
“The remaining 80% get weeded out because they are not qualified for flying any type of commercial aircraft, and since the window for getting a job with an airline is short (because of age limit), their education goes waste and they end up as jobless licence holders,” says Narayanan.
The rejection rate at the CPL level is high because many of the courses of pilot training institutes (both Indian and overseas) are not recognised by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
According to industry statistics, supply of CPL holders has outstripped demand.
Today, Indian and overseas pilot training institutes churn out more than 5,000 CPL holders as against the industry need of around 3,000 pilots.
But Kingfisher’s scouting for co-pilots and commanders for its wide-bodied A330-40 and turbo jet ATRs has been frustrating.
Over the next two years, Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher and Deccan will need close to 600 pilots for A330-40s, A320s and ATRs that will be added to their fleet.
Budget airline SpiceJet will be hiring 36 captains for the six aircraft that it will be adding to its fleet by the end of this financial year.
But even as airlines continue to hire foreign pilots, the proportion of expat pilots in the total hiring is gradually declining. This is because more and more Indian pilots are being promoted as captains.
24/04/08 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis