No shortage of pilots in country, says Union minister V K Singh

The government on Monday said there is no shortage of pilots but there is a shortage of commanders for certain types of aircraft and those are being managed by utilising the services of foreign pilots. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said currently there are 82 Foreign Aircrew Temporary Authorization (FATA) holders in India.

"There is no shortage of pilots in India. There is, however, shortage of Type rated Commanders/PIC (Pilot-in-command) on certain types of aircraft and the same is being managed by utilising foreign pilots by issuing Foreign Aircrew Temporary Authorization (FATA)," he said.

According to him, FATA is not issued to foreign license holders above the age of 65 years and is further restricted to any lower age limit prescribed by the license issuing contracting state.

There are 34 Flying Training Organisations (FTOs) in the country, operating on 52 bases which provide aircraft flying training to obtain Commercial Pilot License (CPL).

There are also 7 Approved Training Organisations (ATO) that provide type specific aircraft training to pilots.