Want To Become A Pilot in 2025 ?

The short answer is YES! This is a very good time to become a pilot. Unfortunately it’s not quite as simple as multiple factors affect this decision. Although a lot has to do with demand and supply, many things are overlooked or are unknown to people before entering the aviation world. 

So read on to find out what are these factors and how they affect a decision on whether you should become a pilot in India.

Understanding Indian Aviation

Historically the Indian aviation market in terms of job availability has always been like a wave where there are abundant jobs for a few years followed by scarce hiring for the next few. Let’s have a look at some highlights of the last 2 decades.

2006: Was the year IndiGo and SpiceJet started operations providing many with job opportunities.

2008: The global financial crisis affects the aviation industry worldwide, leading to financial struggles for several Indian airlines, and a downturn for job seekers.

Then in the year 2012 when kingfisher closed down, many experienced pilots started looking for jobs again. The next few years saw very slow paced hiring for new pilots.

2015 was the year Vistara started its operations opening up the market for job seekers, and a push by the government in 2016 with its UDAN scheme opening up new routes for airlines.

The next phase of rapid hiring came in the year 2018 where most people got jobs and this was driven mostly by IndiGo. 

April 2019 with the closure of Jet Airways created a surplus of highly experienced trained pilots and this led to fresh young pilots without any luck in hiring.

2020 was the year COVID changed the World. Loads of people lost jobs and those with jobs were either on massive pay cuts or on leave without pay, making life very uncertain for many. 

As the world opened up to travel once again some companies did not do so well and we saw some trouble at SpiceJet , slowing down and reducing their operations to the closure of Go First (formally Go Air) and TrueJet.

On the bright side we see some new airline companies starting operations like Akasa Air, Star Air and Fly91. As we stand today there is growth in the entire aviation industry with the near future looking excellent.

Expansion And Growth Of Airlines

It is public knowledge that many airlines around the world have placed some very large orders for aircrafts. Akasa, Indigo and Air India alone have an order of 1120 Aircraft (as of 2024), and more by other companies too. These aircrafts will be coming into the country over the next decade and not in the immediate future.

The current number of aircrafts by Indian airlines today stands at about 750. This would mean that in the next 10 years there will be 2000 aircrafts? Not Quite!

Many of the 1200 aircrafts will serve as a replacement for the current aircraft as some aircrafts will be replaced due to age or some when lease agreements end some due to policies of certain airlines to reduce their maintenance costs amongst other reasons.

Let’s, for argument assume 35% of the new aircrafts will be used as replacements which still leaves almost 800 new aircrafts and all these will require new pilots to fly. That is still a requirement of double the amount of pilots that are flying today, and these numbers are just from the airline industry.

As the airlines get the deliveries of new planes they will hire new people, so the rate of hiring will really depend upon the rate of delivery of aircraft.

_{^{Looking to Find a Flight School?}}

Hiring Preferences

Only a small percentage of pilots get a job with an airline immediately after completion of CPL. Let’s try and understand how airlines go about hiring pilots.

An important disclaimer here is that I am not into hiring and this is just my opinion and perspective, this matrix could change as company policies change.

Airlines or any company would like to hire well experienced pilots first. Simply because it takes less time and money to train them into their new roles at new companies. Next will be lesser experienced pilots who may hold valid type ratings in their past experience for the fleet of aircraft the airline wants to hire for.

Next would be pilots with experience of more than just the 200 hours gained during CPL and may not have type ratings and maybe having passed their ATPL examinations would be a plus here. Then come fresh CPL pilots with type ratings and lastly the ones without type ratings.

It is important to note that many times pilots who take up jobs outside of the airline world stand a better chance to bag those Airline job opportunities as they have gained valuable flying experience.

If I have to define a ladder then in my opinion, a good place to start would be by becoming a flight instructor. Gain some time and experience then move into flying a little bigger aircraft in non-scheduled companies, fly an air ambulance, do survey flights or even get into a charter company that uses small jets.

Joining the coast guard is a good option too, which comes with its own benefits and pension.

There’s no specific order but it’s important not to overlook these areas of aviation as nothing is more valuable than experience gained flying aircraft, any aircraft! Although it may not be as glamorous as the airline industry seems to be, that experience comes in handy when the airlines come with job openings.

Keep in mind that as and when pilots move up the ladder they do make space for new and less experienced pilots to take their place, so look beyond the airline industry and you will find an aircraft to fly.

_{^{Click here to know more about Pilot Licences and Ratings}}

New Airports

The Indian government has not been shy in opening new Airports over the last few years and has plans to open over a dozen more in the near future. What this means is that more planes will be required to fly to these new destinations and the new planes are not limited to just the airline industry alone.

Many charter companies are also expanding to meet this requirement. This also means that air ambulance facilities will have to increase to meet the demand for better health care from smaller towns. The whole ecosystem is growing and evolving with the growth of newer airports, providing more employment opportunities.

Pilot lifestyle #PilotLife

Everybody has seen the glamor of pilots walking in their uniforms at the airports and their stories shared on many social media platforms showing off their glamorous lifestyle and layovers in fancy hotels. There are very few who talk about the hard work.

Sleepless nights studying, which never end. The long years where they were job hunting while the loans needed repayment. Flying through the night and having to report back to work with minimum stipulated rest or seeming to be constantly away on layovers away from family just changing the contents of their suitcase.

The fact that when a pilot goes back home tired after a long day(s) of work, a pilot still has to be a son/ daughter, brother/sister, Husband/wife and Fathers/Mothers. One mandatory off day is where pilots have to honor social, family and personal commitments, and that one day may not even be on a weekend.

Pilot fatigue is a reality today! There are many articles about this which can be looked up on Google and the struggle of pilots demanding for more rest days.

Gone are the days when pilots enjoyed hefty salaries with minimal flying hours. Today’s aviation world demands increased utilization, with companies striving to maximize profits amidst rising fuel costs. This means more working hours and fewer days off with an increasing struggle to get vacation days. There’s an ongoing case for better Flight Duty Time Limitations at the High Court of New Delhi.

The Curve Ball

Aviation is an industry where everything can change overnight. As evidenced by past events, companies can abruptly cease operations, exceptionally affecting pilots and aspiring job seekers. Companies are also aware of this and therefore may refrain from over hiring. 

For Example, Akasa – in their first year alone they were able to get 20 aircraft, because of which they hired a lot of pilots of all experience levels. They were able to get these as the aircraft supply was greater then demand and some countries had set a ban on this version of Boeing aircraft. As the ban lifted, Boeing started delivering newly manufactured aircraft to airlines who had ordered them earlier. At the same time Akasa did not get any any deliveries. As a result, hiring stopped.

In the second half of 2024, Boeing had internal problems with their workers leading to a strike which lasted for over 3 months. This resulted in total factory shut down and zero new aircraft being manufactured and naturally no airline was able to get deliveries. The result at Akasa was that training at all levels slowed down drastically and they have not hired anyone since.

So no matter how good someone may portray a bright future, keep this fact in mind. It is crucial to be vigilant, well informed and up to date with all available news about the aviation world and its developments to make better decisions. Even small changes can have long lasting effects.

Conclusion

I hope now you can understand why in my opinion the YES is not a simple one. In my opinion, this is a career path for those who are passionate and hungry enough to withstand all the sacrifices, job insecurity and financial burden of high training costs. In no way this is an easy career path, but for those who have deep seated passion for aviation the fruit of the labor is worthwhile and the satisfaction from success is something where words fail me to describe the feeling.

If you are enthusiastic to become a pilot in 2024, then the opportune moment is here and better than it has been for almost 2 decades!

---

_{These are of course just my opinions based on my experiences and gained knowledge. Differences in opinions are welcome.}

---

_{Leave a comment below if I have missed out on something you want to discuss.}

---