Indian Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel, stated the country’s airlines are facing an acute shortage of "type rated" pilots. According to Mr Patel, 994 foreign pilots were recruited recently by Indian carriers to meet their expansion needs. Foreign pilots are currently permitted to fly in India under an agreement with the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
To combat the pilot shortage issue, the government has raised the pilot retirement age to 65 and is also investing heavily in pilot training infrastructure, as it aims to increase the number of local pilots graduating from 40 to 100per year.