European academy aims to ramp up pilot training in India

As Indian airlines place large orders for aircraft, pilot training academies of the world are looking to tap this demand. BAA, a major European pilot training academy, aims to secure a 20-30% of the pilot creation capacity in India over the next 5-10 years.

“We are looking at a 10-year strategic plan here and given that for the upcoming five years an average of 1800-2000 new pilots will be needed per year, we are aiming to have 20-30% of that number, so that comes to 500 pilots to be prepared based on the Indian carriers plans,” Marijus Ravoitis, chief executive officer, BAA Training Aviation Academy told Mint.

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The recent order of 470 aircraft by Air India in February 2023, 500 aircraft by IndiGo and another 150 by Akasa Air have piqued the interest of global aviation players and made their presence in this market crucial.

‘It was one of the elements in making the decision because we are basing on the how the market is growing right so it will require a number of pilots between 12 and 15 per aircraft,” Ravoitis said.

While the company has been engaged in providing type rating (a certification for a particular kind of aircraft such as A320 or B737 ) to pilots enrolled at Akasa Air, Air India, and Air India Express, the aircraft orders led BAA to set up a consultancy centre in Gurugram in Oct 2023. 

It has plans to open two more such centres in Mumbai and Bengaluru by September. Pilot training has already begun at the Delhi centre with a batch of around 10 students, and with the two more centres, BAA aims to take in a batch of 10-15 students every second month.

With a current overall intake capacity of 300 cadets per year, BAA aims to increase the total intake capacity to 1000 cadets by 2027. While European carriers are the biggest source market for BAA for now, it sees India as its largest market in 10 years with an aim of dedicating half of the capacity or 500 intake capacity to India.

“We are also talking to different airlines in India to expand the partnership or to do it from scratch on the initial pilot training,” Ravoitis said.

Under the current framework for BAA, the company inducts aspiring pilot cadets who have completed 10+2 schooling --after an assessment programme. Post selection, BAA company offers a 24-month training for ₹1.16 crore to aspiring youngsters. This includes training across Spain, Lithuania, Vietnam.

“Today, already there is a pilot shortage and it's more sensitive when it comes to highly qualified pilot. Our aim is to do the training on time within 24 months. This includes four months in India, 18 months in Spain, and two months for type rating in Europe or Vietnam,” Ravoitis said, adding that BAA will only look at the possibility of inducting a simulator in India for its training after looking at its growth over the next 5-10 years of its presence in India.

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The Indian government has also been encouraging more players for flight training in view of the anticipated demand in the face of a low penetration rate of around 5-7% in air travel in the country. As of December, there were around 34 flying training organizations operating at 57 bases, government data showed.

The growing demand for pilots is also visible in the number of licences issued by the regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation. In 2023, DGCA issued 1,622 commercial pilot licences in 2023, the second consecutive year of decade-high CPL issuances after 2022 when 1,165 licences were issued.

As part of the pilot outlook in 2023, aircraft manufacturer Boeing had estimated a long-term demand for 649,000 new pilots to fly its global commercial fleet over the next 20 years.