Despite expanding pilot training infrastructure in the country, more than four out of every 10 commercial pilots obtaining licences this year were trained abroad, underscoring India’s continued dependence on overseas flying schools to meet the aviation sector’s growing demand for cockpit crew.Replying to a question by Rajya Sabha MP R Girirajan, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said India currently has 41 Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)-approved Flying Training Organisations (FTOs) operating from 63 bases with a fleet of more than 400 training aircraft.According to data shared by the government, 540 of the 1,331 Commercial Pilot Licences (CPLs) issued till June 30 this year were awarded to cadets trained at foreign Flying Training Organisations, accounting for 40.57 per cent of the total.The trend has remained consistent over the past five years. In 2025, 615 out of 1,652 CPL holders, or 37.22 per cent, had trained abroad. The share stood at 40.75 per cent in 2024, 41.12 per cent in 2023 and 47.12 per cent in 2022.The government said existing FTOs have the capacity to train around 3,500 students at any given time under the prescribed aircraft-instructor-student ratio.To strengthen domestic pilot training, the Centre said it has simplified approval procedures for flying schools, revised training regulations, introduced a ranking framework for FTOs and aligned regulatory norms with international best practices.It also highlighted recent measures to improve training efficiency, including relaxing minimum in-flight visibility requirements from 5 km to 3 km under specified conditions to increase flying hours, expanding the pool of designated examiners and increasing the frequency of oral examinations for flight instructors to a monthly schedule.Responding to a query on Chennai, the government said AAG Centre for Aviation Training Private Limited has been approved by the DGCA as an Approved Training Organisation for providing type-specific pilot training.To reduce the cost of pilot training, the Centre said it has abolished airport royalty for flying training organisations, substantially reduced land rentals, exempted DGCA-approved flying training courses from GST and permitted greater use of simulators and other modern training technologies to improve efficiency and lower costs.However, despite these initiatives, the data indicates that a significant proportion of aspiring commercial pilots continue to depend on foreign training institutes to obtain their licences.