Pilots (Civilian, India)
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[edit] Pilots, female
[edit] India has higher ratio of women pilots than global average
Manju V, Percentage of female pilots in local airlines on upswing, March 8, 2018: The Times of India
While it’s known that India has a higher ratio of women airline pilots than the global average, the percentage of female pilots in airlines such as Air India, IndiGo, Spice Jet and Jet Airways is on a steady rise.
Two days ago, IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh tweeted that 25% of the 1,200 women pilots in India work with IndiGo and they account for 14% of IndiGo’s pilots. At 12%, India has the highest average of women airline pilots against the global average of 4%, he had tweeted, referring to a December 2017 survey by the International Society of Women Airline Pilots.
National carrier Air India is one of the big recruiters of women pilots. An Air India spokesperson said 13% of its cockpit crew comprised women pilots.
Women comprise more than 12% of Jet Airways’ pilots, said a Jet Airways spokesperson. “The percentage of women pilots has been growing over time. About a decade ago, 7.5% of Jet Airways’ pilots were women. That number has grown over 12.1%, reflecting a progressive increase in women crew,’’ the Jet spokesperson added.
Another airline that is keen on increasing its women pilot number is low-cost carrier Spice Jet. On the eve of International Women’s Day, the airline announced a first of its kind initiative-—an exclusive recruitment drive for women pilots for its Boeing 737 and Bombardier Q400 fleet.
The airline has extended an open invite to women pilots across the country as part of the recruitment program held at SpiceJet training Academy in Gurugram on Wednesday and Thursday. “It is open for both captains and first officers having a valid commercial pilot licence,’’ said a Spice Jet spokesperson and added that an all-women selection board comprising the airline’s management lady pilots will conduct interviews. “With no exam fees attached, the hand-picked candidates will be given the offer letter the very same day.’’
[edit] 2014-18: number doubles; exceeds twice the international ratio
From: Saurabh Sinha, Number of women pilots doubles to 1,000 in 4 yrs, September 26, 2018: The Times of India
INDIA HAS 15% OF WORLD’S WOMEN AIRLINE PILOTS
“Watch out Mr Trump, all our ladies are headed your way!” This message had gone viral on Air India pilots’ WhatsApp groups a few months back when the airline celebrated Women’s day by having allfemale crew on its nonstops to and from US. Twenty women pilots were deployed for the four routes to US that day — Delhi to New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Mumbai-Newark — apart from a SFO-Delhi direct. With 280 women pilots, representing 12.8% of its entire pilot workforce, the Maharaja did not have any difficulty in rostering them for flights to and from the US in one day.
The AI Group mirrors the growing number of women pilots in India which today stands at 12.4% with 1,092 of the total 8,797 pilots in schedule domestic airlines being ladies. India has, in fact, seen the number of women pilots almost double in last four years. In 2014, 586 of the 5,050 pilots (11.6%) in domestic schedule airlines were women. All ‘old’ airlines here have seen almost doubling of women pilots in this period.
In percentage terms, India has among the highest ratio of female pilots working for schedule airlines globally. In big aviation markets like US and Australia, the percentage of women pilots to the total workforce is about 5%. Estimates from the International Society of Women Airline Pilots published show there are 7,409 women pilots across the world accounting for 5.2% of total pilot workforce, said an airline official. According to the International Society of Women Airline Pilots, India has seen the maximum growth in number of women commercial pilots in recent times.
A woman pilot of an Indian carrier said on condition of anonymity: “We are breaking the myth of being bad drivers on roads in the sky. Very often passengers applaud either in flight or later on social media when they realize their flight was operated by women pilots. While Indian flyers know there are more women in flight decks than earlier, foreigners at times seem to be very surprised as they have a very old opinion of women in India.”
[edit] 2018, India: women pilots twice, commanders 6x world average
Manju V, Percentage of desi women pilots twice that of world’s, November 9, 2018: The Times of India
From: Manju V, Percentage of desi women pilots twice that of world’s, November 9, 2018: The Times of India
India not only has the highest percentage of women airline pilots in the world, but the percentage of women pilots in India is more than double the global average, according to latest data released by International Society of Women Airline Pilots (ISA+21).
According to the latest statistics, the percentage of women airline pilots in the world stands around 5.4%. In India, the percentage of women pilots currently is 12.4 %. India employs a total of 8,797 pilots of which 1,092 are women and 385 of these are female captains, according to ISA+21. Globally, the total number of airline pilots is over 1.5 lakh of which only 8,061 are women and 2,190 are women captains.
TOI was the first to report that the percentage of female pilots in India was way above the global average. In a report carried on September 11, 2006, TOI had quoted ISA+21 data which said that the global percentage of women pilots was 5.9%. Back then, the percentage of women airline pilots in India was 11%, which still was double the global average.
Delhi-based regional carrier Zoom employs the highest percentage of women pilots in the world, at 30%.
IndiGo has the second highest percentage of women pilots at nearly 13.9%. Of the 2,689 pilots that it employs, 351 are women. Of the 1,867 pilots in Jet Airways, 231 are women (12.4%). SpiceJet has 853 pilots of which 113 are women (13.2%), while Air India has 1,710 pilots of which 217 are women pilots (12.7%). IndiGo and Jet Airways are the only two carriers in the world, other than some US-based carriers, where the number of female captains is currently in three digits.
IndiGo has 118 women commanders and Jet Airways 100. However the percentage of women pilots in US-based carriers is just above global average.
An IndiGo spokesperson said, “In the past five years, the number of women pilots has increased from 80 to over 330. We have women pilots flying as trainers and some are in managerial positions as well. Two of our women pilots have been nominated as flight operations inspectors with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).’’ The official added: “IndiGo is the only airline to have crèches, which enable both women and men to strike a balance between their early parenthood responsibilities and professional obligations.’’
[edit] Pilot licences
[edit] 2013-23
Saurabh Sinha, January 2, 2024: The Times of India
From: Saurabh Sinha, January 2, 2024: The Times of India
Sky beckons: DGCA issues max pilot licences in 2023
More Women Get Licences Than Before
Saurabh Sinha
New Delhi : India issued the highest ever number of commercial pilot licences (CPL) — 1,622 — last year, almost 40% more than 1,165 in 2022. Last year, 292 women got CPLs (18% of total issued) — 22% more than 2022, said an official of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). While the number of CPLs issued by DGCA in the last decade has almost doubled — from 783 in 2013-14 to 1,622 last year, share of those going to women has nearly tripled — from 116 to 293 — in the same period.
India already has the highest proportion of women pilots globally. “It is estimated 14% of workforce employed with scheduled airlines consists of women pilots. This is the second consecutive year where the number of licenses issued has witnessed a decade-high,” a senior DGCA official said. Durba Banerjee had become the first Indian woman commercial pilot in 1956 when she joined erstwhile Indian Airlines. In January 2021, Air India had operated one of the world’s longest nonstops — San Francisco-Bengaluru — with four women pilots who took the polar route on their way home.
Being the fastest growing aviation market globally and with Indian carriers led by Tata Group Air India & IndiGo having over 1,600 aircraft on order, India is estimated to require thousands of pilots in coming decades. As a result a large number of youngsters are increasingly choosing this vocation which is reflected in the CPL numbers.
In a statement titled “milestone achievement: DGCA sets record of decadehigh CPLs issued,” the regulator particularly highlighted the 22% jump in licences issued to women last year.
The Modi government has been trying to promote flying training organisations so that the large number of ca det pilots who go abroad for this expensive training can do the same at home. Several new FTOs have opened but a number of issues still plague flying training in India. These include comparatively long time taken for completing the required number of flying hours to earn a CPL as opposed to doing so in a few months abroad, albeit at a much higher cost. The others include safety concerns and overall lack of desired quality of training in some places. Meanwhile, DGCA official added: “To cater to long time demand of small business & helicopter operators, the regulator has granted approval for a new helicopter flying training organisation to enable aspirants to undertake training & acquire commercial licenses for copters. With this it’s expected that the helicopter industry largely engaged in regional connectivity services, pilgrimage and air-ambulance will shore up in terms of crew strength by receiving additional pool other than ex-military pilots.”
[edit] Pilots
[edit] 2018>2019: Number of expat pilots soars by 176%
Chethan Kumar, March 7, 2020: The Times of India
From: Chethan Kumar, March 7, 2020: The Times of India
The number of foreign pilots commanding aircraft operated by Indian airlines rose 176% in 2019 to 892 from 323 in 2018. These pilots are given what the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) terms FATA (foreign aircrew temporary authorisation), which allows them to fly in India.
Country-wise data made public by the DGCA shows that of the 892 FATAs issued in 2019, at least 151, or 17%, were given to pilots from Iran, 100 to European countries, 71 to Brazil and 50 to the US. Pilots from 69 countries obtained FATA from DGCA. India has also welcomed pilots from Mexico (49), Myanmar (45), Honduras (31), Cuba (39), Nepal (27), Ukraine (20) and the African nations (19).
Given the perpetual shortage in type-rated pilotsin-command or commanders in the country, the number of FATAs issued by DGCA has been increasing by the year, and 2019 saw the highest jump in recent years.
From 139 in 2016, the number of FATAs increased to 184 in 2017 and jumped to 323 in 2018. “The provision of FATA, which was extended by two years in 2018, will expire in December 2020,” the DGCA says. The total number of FATAs issued in the past four years stands at 1,538. While an airline-wise data for the same was not available, aviation expert Devesh Agarwal said: “If you look at the influx of aircraft as planned by airlines, you will see that there will be an increase in ATRs, A320 and Bombardier q-400, among others. We don’t have enough commanders for these types of aircraft and I don’t see this to be alarming. An estimate going by the number of hours a pilot can fly and the number of hours one aircraft is used per year, you will see that each plane would need at least five commanders.”
The DGCA has not maintained information for years preceding 2016, but data for 2016-2019 shows the maximum number of pilots came from European countries. Iran stands out as a single country sending most number of pilots, followed by the US.
