DGCA issues 1,331 pilot licences till June: Govt

As many as 1,331 commercial pilot licences have been issued by aviation watchdog DGCA this year till June 30, and out of them, 41 per cent of the cadets were trained overseas, according to the Government.

The data was submitted to the Rajya Sabha on Monday as part of a written reply by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol.

This year, till June 30, commercial pilot licences were issued to 791 cadets from Indian Flying Training Organisations (FTOs) and 540 cadets from foreign FTOs.

The licences were issued to 1,652 cadets and 1,347 cadets in 2025 and 2024, respectively. As per the data, a total of 1,622 persons were issued the licences in 2023, higher than the 1,165 people who received the licences in 2022.

Currently, there are 41 DGCA-approved FTOs with 63 bases across the country, with more than 400 aircraft.

DGCA norms stipulate Aircraft: Instructor: Student ratio as 1:1:10, which corresponds to training capacity of around 3,500 students at these FTOs at any given point of time, Mohol said.

The minister said the Government has taken several steps to strengthen pilot training infrastructure in the country, including simplifying and streamlining the approval and oversight process for FTOs, and revising training regulations.