The government has decided to further streamline the process for foreign pilots to acquire Indian commercial pilot licence. As part of the move, which comes in the wake of severe shortage of pilots being faced by the country?s booming aviation sector, the civil aviation ministry has initiated a process whereby foreign pilots can get the requisite permission to fly in India within 2-7 days as against the present duration of a couple of months.
The government has already increased the minimum age limit required to fly in the country, made it easier for pilots from the defence forces to enter into commercial flying ooperations, started a flying training institute in Gondia and given a boost to the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udaan Akademi in Rae Bareily.
The ministry had come under much criticism for increasing the retirement age for pilots to 65 years but ministry officials have been defending this. ?Only US does not allow a person above 60 years of age not to fly commercial passenger aircraft while most other countries have 65 year as the cut-off age,? ministry officials said. ?Besides, in the US, a pilot above 60 is still allowed to fly other aircraft as long as they are fit as per the medical requirements,? he added.
According to ministry data, the total requirement of pilots for scheduled, non-scheduled and private operators is 4,754. Of these, 3,950 are Indians and around 804 foreign pilots working for the various airlines in the country are meeting the shortfall.