Is this a good time to become a pilot? There is no short answer unfortunately, since 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. Many a times people are misled to believe a different story.

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.

• • In the first few months into 2025, all the airlines stopped hiring, including IndiGo. The one airline that was consistently hiring pilots of all experiences, hiring a handful every month, stopped! Why? Aircraft and engine deliveries slowed down. Air India had closed down their Kolkata base, so most of those pilots moved over to IndiGo. So a complete halt in hiring until demand picks up again.

• • On the bright side we see some new airline companies like Akasa Air, Star Air and Fly91 are growing slowly but surely. As we stand today there are 3 new airlines in the horizon awaiting to start operations – Air Kerala, Shankh Air and Al Hind Airlines. There is growth in the entire aviation industry with the future looking excellent.

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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 delivered over the next decade and not in the immediate future.

The current number of aircrafts by Indian airlines today stands at about 750 (end of 2024). 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. So, the airline already have pilots for these aircraft and wont need any fresh hiring.

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. 

Along with this you also need to consider the number of CPLs being issued by DGCA every year to the number of fresh pilots airlines are hiring in the same year. DGCA has issued 1,342 CPLs in 2024, 1,622 in 2023 and 1,165 in 2022. That makes a total of 4,129 in just the last 3 years. Have all the airlines, put together, hired so many fresh pilots in the same period ?

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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 highly experienced pilots first. Simply because it takes less time and money to train them into their new roles at new companies. 

Next will be slightly lesser but experienced pilots who may hold 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 training, and may not have type ratings . 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. And you will not be joining the airline at the bottom of the salary scale.

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.

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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 and coming home just to change 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. The mandatory off is where pilots have to honor social, family and personal commitments, and that 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. Please read this article from ThePrint.in as an example.

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, Airline 1 – 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 due to some world politics. Later, Boeing started delivering aircraft to airlines who had ordered them earlier and Airline 1 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.

On going wars have made it difficult for aircraft manufactures to obtain titanium which is crucial for making aircrafts. Trump may have started a tariff war early in 2025 which again is going to affect aircraft manufacturing and deliveries. As aircraft deliveries have been delayed, hiring has come to a halt at all airlines.

So no matter how good someone may portray a bright future, keep this 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 the decision of becoming a pilot is not a simple one. Airline jobs come overnight but jobs also go away overnight. Being at the right place and at the right time is a matter of luck. It’s upto you to decide if you want to risk sitting at home awaiting the next wave of airline hiring or take up a job flying some smaller aircraft. No one can predict the future with absolute certainty and tell you what to do. 

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.