Like flying, piloting is also becoming the preserve of the rich

In 1979, Shakti Lumba, a former commander and something of an institution in India’s flying circles, joined Indian Airlines as a young first officer. Lumba’s commercial pilot licence (CPL) from Patiala flying club cost him Rs 22,500 and he got his type-rating (certification to operate a particular type of aircraft) at Indian Airlines (on both A320 and B737) at no additional charge. 

Jati Dhillon, another senior commander and trainer, qualified as a pilot with the Indian Navy. In 1992 he paid about Rs 2,000 to get a airline transport pilot certificate by doing hours on the Cessna 152 and then joined Jet Airways, where he got his type-rating at no extra cost. 

In 1967-70, Mohan Ranganathan, a former commander and industry stalwart, obtained his flying license for a princely sum of Rs 5,600 from the Madras Flying Club. He got type-rated on the Dakota DC 3 and subsequently, on the B 737-200 with Indian Airlines and later with SilkAir.

That was then. Today, the cost of training as a pilot in India has reached stratospheric levels. Even though the country is one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world, piloting an airplane is becoming the preserve of the rich and many youngsters are simply not able to afford the expense of training for this career.

The Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udaan Academy, which is one of the better flying schools in the country, charges Rs 42 lakh for the training (inclusive of boarding and lodging). With quality flying schools in India being few and far between, many aspiring pilots go abroad to train, where a license costs anywhere between Rs 15 and Rs 25 lakh (living costs are extra). Pilots say the cost of acquiring a CPL overseas works out to Rs 25 to Rs 50 lakh, depending on which country one goes to for the training.

That’s not all. After getting the CPL, all pilots now have to pay for their own type-rating – either to an external trainer or to the airline which has hired them. They also have to pay for the further training requirements that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation stipulates, which includes six landings with an empty aircraft to be executed with a trainer.

External type-rating can cost anywhere between Rs 18 and 25 lakh. Some domestic airlines like Go Air only hire type-rated pilots. Others like SpiceJet, IndiGo and even Air India have various options for training. For instance, a CPL holder who joins SpiceJet has to pay Rs 45 lakh to be type-rated and inducted as a first officer. IndiGo’s induction plan from training to cockpit can set the aspirant back by almost Rs 1 crore. 

Air India too charges for type-rating and the empty aircraft landings required as per the DGCA stipulations. A former DGCA official says that one doesn’t know if what airlines are charging new pilots amounts to the actual training costs or if they are profiting from this scenario.

In the West type-rated pilots often work for a few years in business aviation, flying smaller aircraft before they are considered by the larger carriers. Since India does not have much of business aviation, here pilots go directly from getting type-rated to joining a narrow-body fleet. This is the reason the DGCA has certain training requirements which give a pilot some experience of take-offs and landings before he or she is put in charge as first officer on a narrow body aircraft.

As a result of all this, a large proportion of the costs of finally finding oneself in the cockpit are borne by the aspirant.

Senior commanders and trainers say that the rising costs of becoming a professional pilot is a worrying trend for the industry as the youngsters joining the profession seem more focussed on how to repay their loans and mortgages and living the high life than on their passion for flying. Unlike the older generation of pilots, some of who know all there is to know about an airplane, the newer crop seems totally consumed with the monetary aspect of their profession.

“We are seeing a growing disconnect between the senior commanders and the first officer within the cockpit,” says Dhillon. With the youngsters so fixated on the returns on what they have invested on their training, Dhillon feels that there has been a lowering of respect between the two generations of professionals, which could lead to disciplinary problems in the future.

Airbus estimates that India will need 25,000 additional senior pilots over the next two decades. That may be a tall order if the current situation persists. Between 1986-87 and 2008, the IGRUA produced around 700 pilots. In 2008, the training was outsourced to CAE Inc (a Canadian manufacturer of simulation technologies and training services) and another 900-odd pilots were produced by IGRUA in the next decade. 

Today, a few are also trained at a flying academy in Gondia. Set up under the watch of former aviation minister Praful Patel, this academy is acting as an in-house training ground for IndiGo. 

In addition, every year around 200 pilots come with a CPL from overseas and get it converted through the DGCA here. The irony is that while there is a shortage of commanders, there is a glut of CPL holders in India with many of them looking for jobs or trying to get type-rated through other sources.

The bottom line is that unless more quality flying schools come up in India and the costs of training come down, fewer youngsters will manage to become pilots. And piloting will be the prerogative of the rich — just as flying continues to be.  

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