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Pilot courses in US cheaper than in India

Anirban Chowdhury / New Delhi September 29, 2007

Even while 37 applications for setting up flying academies are pending for
government clearance, the inexpensive fees of commercial pilot training
courses in the US, South-east Asia and Australia, compared to India, are
forcing aspiring pilots to go abroad.

While the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uraan Academy (IGRUA) — an autonomous

flying institute under the central government — charges around Rs 19 lakh for
its training course for a commercial pilot licence, a flying institute in the US
charges around Rs 16 lakh for the same course.

What is more, the training period in the US academies is six months, while it
can take up to two and a half years in India. According to norms laid down by
the director-general of civil aviation, one can get a licence only after completing
200 hours of flying.

Even South-east Asia works out cheaper than India. Malaysian flying
academies offer courses that take about a year but cost between Rs 10 lakh
and Rs 12 lakh. The Philippines, which is one of the cheapest countries in the
world for getting a pilot’s licence, charges Rs 9-10 lakh.

DEMAND SOARS
2007 2012
Number of aircraft 350 850
Number of pilots 2500 7500

Australia offers a range of academies giving training for Rs 16-18 lakh.

Little wonder, aspiring Indian pilots are winging their way to overseas pilot
schools in large numbers. According to industry estimates, more than 60 per
cent of the Indian pilots inducted in the past one year have been from foreign
flying institutes.

And this trend is expected to continue for at least three years. With large growth
in the aviation sector, there is a need for over 1,000 commercial pilots per year
for the next five years.

However, while there are 42 training institutes in the country, of which only 25
are operational (14 are state-operated and 11 are run by private
entrepreneurs), they have the capacity to churn out 300- 400 pilots annually,
leaving a yawning gap of 600-700 pilots.

The private flying schools in India charge about Rs 16 lakh, which is at par with
what is charged in the US.

But most of them do not offer multi-engine aircraft training, unlike in foreign
academies. This training is necessary to get entry into any premier airline
company in the country or the globe.

State-owned flying institutes charge a little lower, in the range of Rs 10 lakh.

But most of them have such limited facilities that a student takes around three
years to finish his course and still gets very limited flying experience.

“Students in state-owned flying institutes get around 20 hours of flying in 10

months. We got 200 hours of flying in five months,” said a pilot of a leading
airline who got his training from a US academy.

Says Arun Lohiya, deputy chief executive, Ahmedabad Aviation and

Aeronautics Ltd, one of the largest private flying schools in the country: "The
higher charges in India can be attributed to three heads — higher aviation fuel
costs, higher maintenance costs and instructors charging exorbitant fees."

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On average, an instructor in a flying school charges around Rs 3 lakh per

month. "The institute has to pay him that much, or he can easily join an airline
as a pilot where he would get a salary of a much range," adds Lohiya.

Also, no flying school in India has simulator training for aircraft like the A320
and the Boeing 737. Only the airlines have their own simulators for the family of
aircraft used in their fleet.

"A pilot, therefore, has to undergo further simulator training of around five
months, for which an amount is deducted from his salary or he has to sign a
bond for 5-6 years. Institutes abroad have their own simulators and can provide
training for such family of passenger aircraft," says Jagat Bedi, a passout of the
Branson Flying Academy, Canada.

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