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India has 25,001 licensed pilots, civil aviation minister tells Lok Sabha
Govt says India has 25,001 licensed pilots under 65; no data maintained on unemployed Commercial Pilot Licence and Airline Transport Pilot Licence holders, Lok Sabha informed
New Delhi: India has 25,001 pilots under the age of 65 holding valid flying licences, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday. However, it clarified that no centralised data is maintained on how many commercial or airline transport pilots are currently unemployed or not in active service.
In a written reply to a question by Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmaker Sharmila Sarkar, minister of state for civil aviation Murlidhar Mohol provided category-wise details of licences issued by the civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
According to the data, the country has 10,051 Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) holders for planes and 210 for helicopters. The largest group comprises Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) holders, with 12,480 plane CPL holders and 777 helicopter CPL holders. In addition, 1,483 pilots hold Private Pilot Licences (PPL).
Responding to queries on the number of CPL and ATPL holders who are unemployed or not in active service, the minister said, “No such detail of unemployment of pilots holding Commercial Pilot License (CPL) or Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL) is maintained.”
The reply also included year-wise data on ATPLs issued since 2014.
A total of 6,775 ATPLs were issued between 2014 and 2025. The numbers peaked at 752 in 2019 but dropped to 398 in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic. They, however, recovered in subsequent years, with 720 ATPLs granted in 2022 and 646 in 2025.
The data comes at a time when Indian airlines are expanding their fleets and placing large aircraft orders, amid ongoing discussions around pilot availability and crew planning norms.
