Aviation Sector faces shortage of pilots, cabin crew

Career Aviation to start an institute for Pilot training and other aviation staff

Hyderabad, October 17...: India's first Aviation HR specialist company Careers Aviation to set up a pilot training institute as a joint venture in association with Newsland Academy, Australia with a investment of over 25 crore rupees. The government permission is awaited. Once this is materialised, the JV will be completed in next six months. Together with our foreign partner, we will create infrastructure necessary for pilot training institute. We will also obtain few aircrafts for the same purpose, informed Capt. Krishna Prasanth.

It is also planning to build a first of its kind private hanger facility at Jakkur in Bangalore. This facility will come up in next three months, disclosed this Capt Krishna Prasanth addressing a gathering of aviation career aspirants here in Hyderabd. Speaking at the Career Road Show organised first time in India at Hyderabad he stated that the aviation sector is booming, but, it has been facing shortage of trained pilots, cabin crew, maintenance engineers and other staff.

To cash in on from this boom, Careers Aviation is offering whole lot of services such as training, aircrafts sales and purchase, maintenance, Corporate Charter Consultancy, Aviation HR and Project Management is services.

Adding further Capt Prasanth stated that there are 300 pilot training institutions all over the world. But, India has none. About 15 small time institutions run by former pilots recruit local aspirants and send them abroad for the trianing. Soon this will change, once our academy comes up, he said.

India's just 3,774 pilots in 2005 fly more than 250 aircrafts, most of them brand-new, with half a dozen added every month. Almost a quarter of pilots in India are expatriates, as the sector needs 400 pilots a year but produces only about 100. By the year 2015, the demand for the same will go up to 11,026. New training schools are being set up, but, that is not sufficient. Meanwhile more expatriates being hired. Even then the industry is short supplied. According to industry estimates, we will need about 7000 trainee pilots in the next 5-7 years. Currently the short fall of cabin crew is put at 25000.

Today, India's approximately 14 scheduled airlines operate more than 350 aircrafts between them. Every month the figure rises, and each aircraft that comes in brings along a demand for 10 more pilots. Compounding the pilot shortfall are another 350 aircrafts, owned by non-scheduled airlines and private entities.

He was in city today in connection with the company's road show "Take off Enrolment" which is being orgnised first time in India at Hyderabad.

Take off Enrolment is a company's campaign to unfold the career opportunities and training programs to the aspiring young people at Hyderabad. This will now travel from here to Kochi, Bangalore and Chennai soon, he added.

Speaking to the gathering at Hotel Taj Krishna he added that Aviation sector in India has been marked by fast-paced change in the past few years. From being a service that few could afford, the sector has now graduated to being a fiercly competitive industry with the presence of a number of private and public airlines and several consumer-oriented offerings.

The Indian fleet, which is comprised of 170 aircrafts in May 2005, is now almost twice that now, with 312 units. With the scheduled 2007 additions of 54-55, this number will rise to fewer than 370 by the end of the year. And growth is expected to continue apace: the Government estimates that India's fleet will reach approximately 550 aircrafts by the end of 2010.

With Indian skies opening to private air carriers, and more players waiting to take to skies, the demand for pilots, cabin crew, flight engineers etc is on the increase. Increasing investments by Airbus and others players and purchasing new aircrafts demand more professionals.

India's aviation market is flying high. It is estimated that by 2010, there will be 70 million air passengers in India. Indian carriers are expected to buy at least 280 new planes by 2010, worth $15 billion, and spend another $15 billion in the following decade. In the longer run, India needs 1,100 new aircrafts, of which 935 would be passenger planes and the rest for freight, according to Airbus's market predictions. Boeing has said it expects India will need 856 new jet aircraft worth more than $72 billion over the next 20 years, he informed.

Capt. Krishna Prasanth, MD of Careers Aviation can be reached on his mobile: 093416-10001, Email: krishna@careersaviation.com

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