As on date, there are 36 Flying training organizations (FTOs) operating at 57 bases. There are 54 AME Training Institutes approved by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). A total of 1165 Commercial Pilot Licenses (CPLs) were issued in 2022. The estimated supply of engineers from DGCA approved AME Training Institutes is around 3500 per year to cater to the demands of the aviation industry.

The initiatives taken by the Government to promote and regulate training infrastructure for civil aviation sector include the following:

(i) To augment the supply of trained pilots in the country, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has brought out a liberalised Flying Training Organisation (FTO) policy whereby the concept of airport royalty (revenue share payment by FTOs to AAI) has been abolished and land rentals have been significantly rationalised.

(ii) In 2021, after a competitive bidding process, AAI has awarded nine FTO slots at five airports at Belagavi (Karnataka), Jalgaon (Maharashtra), Kalaburagi (Karnataka), Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh) and Lilabari (Assam). In June 2022, under the second round of bidding, six FTO slots were awarded by AAI at five airports namely: two slots at Bhavnagar (Gujarat), and one each at Hubballi (Karnataka), Kadappa (Andhra Pradesh), Kishangarh (Rajasthan) and Salem (Tamil Nadu).

(iii) Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has introduced Online-On Demand Examination (OLODE) for the Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (AME) and Flying Crew (FC) candidates with effect from November 2021. This facility allows candidates to choose the date and time from the available exam slots.

(iv) DGCA has modified its regulations to empower Flying Instructors with the right to authorise flight operations at FTOs. This was earlier restricted to the Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) or Deputy CFIs only.

(v) DGCA issued regulation, CAR-147 (Basic) - approved Basic maintenance Training organisation. The regulations are in line with international standards of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and harmonised as per EASA regulations. The regulation streamlines the syllabus and skilled training requirements for the development of competent/ skilled manpower for maintenance of aircraft.

This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation Gen. (Dr) V. K. Singh (Retd) in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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