Due to the operational crisis of the country’s largest airline IndiGo, passengers are suffering due to flight cancellations and delays. Meanwhile, the government data presented in the Lok Sabha on Thursday (December 11, 2025) presented a worrying picture of the Indian aviation sector. Despite the continuously increasing demand, this industry is currently immersed in massive losses.

Only Indigo is profitable
According to the written reply given by the Civil Aviation Ministry, IndiGo was the only major airline to make profit in the financial year 2024-25. The company registered a profit of Rs 7,253 crore during this period. In contrast, government airline Air India suffered a loss of Rs 3,976 crore, Air India Express Rs 5,832 crore, Akasa Air Rs 1,986 crore and Alliance Air suffered a loss of Rs 691 crore. SpiceJet also remained in loss and recorded a loss of Rs 56 crore. The small-scale operator Star Air was an exception, earning a modest profit of Rs 68 crore.

old series of losses
This economic crisis is not new. In the financial year 2022-23, Indian Airlines had incurred a collective loss of more than Rs 18,600 crore. Air India alone lost Rs 11,387 crore, while IndiGo also suffered a loss of Rs 316 crore. Although Indigo made a strong comeback in the next financial year 2023-24 and registered a profit of Rs 8,167 crore, other companies could not get out of the quagmire of losses. Air India suffered a loss of Rs 4,444 crore and SpiceJet suffered a loss of Rs 404 crore.

Demand increased, but debt and cost increased problems
This is the situation when the number of people flying in the country is continuously increasing. In the financial year 2024-25, the number of domestic passengers increased by 7.7% to 16.55 crore. Despite this, airlines are stuck in a cycle of heavy debt, high operating costs and low margins. For this reason, new players are afraid to enter the market, while the demand is continuously touching record levels.

Passengers troubled by Indigo crisis, lack of options increases difficulties
The recent operational crisis of IndiGo, which has about 65% domestic market share, has shaken the entire system. Thousands of flights had to be canceled due to severe crew shortage and new duty-time regulations. Competing airlines are already facing financial crisis, hence passengers are left with very limited options. As a result, crowding at airports is increasing, fares are skyrocketing and passenger dissatisfaction is also increasing.

The airlines sector in the country is in the news these days, especially after the operational crisis in IndiGo. Meanwhile, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Muralidhar Mohol, while presenting a detailed report in Parliament, said that India’s six major domestic airlines have a total of 13,989 pilots. This figure shows how big and fast the Indian aviation sector is growing. But at the same time, a big question also arises that when there are so many pilots in India, then why is there a need for foreign pilots?

How many pilots do how many airlines have?

Minister Mohol told in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha that Air India and its low-cost company Air India Express have 6,350 and 1,592 pilots deployed respectively. At the same time, the country’s largest domestic airline Indigo has 5,085 cockpit crew.

Apart from this, Akasa Air has 466 pilots, SpiceJet has 385 pilots and government-owned Alliance Air has 111 pilots. It is clear from these figures that the Indian aviation sector is expanding rapidly and along with it the demand for pilots is also increasing.

Why are foreign pilots needed?

Despite having about 14 thousand pilots in the country, airlines are appointing foreign pilots. Minister Mohol himself explained the reason for this. He said that the fleet is continuously growing and airlines require ‘rated pilots’ with special training to operate on time. There are many new aircraft which require special training to fly and not every pilot can get this training immediately. In such a situation, airlines appoint international pilots on a temporary basis so that there is no delay or cancellation in flights and operations continue smoothly.

FTOs are continuously increasing training capacity.

The minister said that the network of Flying Training Organizations (FTOs) in the country is growing rapidly. DGCA has given permission to FTOs to induct 61 new training aircraft by November, which has increased the training capacity. He also informed that two more new FTOs have been approved in 2025.

Presently 40 FTOs are active at 62 locations across the country and are continuously improving their training facilities. It is expected that in the coming years India will not have to depend on foreign pilots.

Does the Ministry interfere in FTOs?

Muralidhar Mohol clearly said that the flying training facilities and their expansion are completely dependent on the market. FTOs decide how many training aircraft they add or how many trainers they hire based on their business decisions. The Civil Aviation Ministry does not directly interfere in this.

So will more opportunities open up in India for foreign pilots?

Looking at the current situation, it can be said that as long as the fleet in India is increasing rapidly and new aircraft are being added, the demand for foreign pilots will remain. However, with the improvement in capacity of FTOs and pilot training in India, this dependence may gradually reduce in the coming years.

Also read – CBSE has issued new guidelines for class 10 students, a big change in the way of writing the answer sheet.

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