The government on Wednesday awarded Letters of Intent (LoIs) for setting up 11 new Flying Training Organisations (FTOs) across seven Airports Authority of India (AAI) airports. According to reports from Aviation India, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu presented the LoIs at a roundtable interaction with existing FTOs and also launched a FTO IFR Slot Booking App to streamline instrument flight training at AAI airports. With the addition of these new institutes, the government aims to strengthen domestic pilot training capacity as Indian airlines prepare for rapid fleet expansion.
The move is expected to raise the country's annual pilot training capacity by 750 cadets. As reported by Aviation India, India currently has 41 DGCA-approved Flying Training Organisations operating from 63 flying training bases across the country. The minister noted that six new FTOs have already been established over the past two years, while the number of trainer aircraft has increased from 324 to 385 during this period. Annual flying hours across the pilot training ecosystem have also risen by 25%, reflecting improved capacity and better utilisation of training resources.
According to the ministry data reported by Aviation India, the number of Commercial Pilot Licences (CPLs) issued increased from 1,347 in 2024 to 1,652 in 2025, the highest number issued in the last decade. The government expects the figure to rise further in 2026. Civil Aviation Secretary Samir Kumar Sinha stated that the country is estimated to need 25,000 additional pilots by 2035, which means issuing around 2,500 commercial pilot licences every year.
Addressing the event, Minister Naidu said India has emerged as one of the world's fastest-growing aviation markets and requires a strong pipeline of trained aviation professionals to support future growth. As reported by Aviation India, he highlighted that Indian airlines currently have 1,640 aircraft on order, and nearly 500 aircraft are expected to be inducted over the next five years. "Guided by the vision of Viksit Bharat and Aatmanirbhar Bharat, we are simultaneously expanding aviation infrastructure and building a future-ready workforce to support the sector's long-term growth," said the Minister. He emphasized that under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is guided by the vision of Viksit Bharat and Aatmanirbhar Bharat to simultaneously expand aviation infrastructure and build a future-ready workforce.
The minister highlighted a series of policy reforms introduced to encourage pilot training in India, including liberalisation of the FTO policy, abolition of airport royalties, rationalisation of land rentals and the digitisation of the Commercial Pilot Licence examination process through the Pariksha Portal. As reported by Aviation India, India has also become only the second country in the world to issue electronic pilot licences. Emphasising quality in pilot training, Naidu said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's FTO Ranking Framework has made training more transparent and data-driven, helping improve standards across the sector. The framework has already reduced the number of lower-ranked Category 'C' FTOs while increasing the number of Category 'B' institutions. The Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA) has achieved an average of 1,765 flying hours per aircraft annually during the past six months, exceeding the global benchmark of around 1,500 hours, while recording a 27% increase in revenue during 2025-26 and posting a budget surplus after more than two decades of recurring deficits.
