Aviation Diaries Day 4

#100daychallenge

Let’s talk about some major trends in the Indian Aviation sector.

The number of non-scheduled airlines is on the rise, 119 as of 31 December 2024, compared to 103 in 2023. Scheduled airlines are big airlines like Indigo that operate flights on a regular timetable. For example, a flight will fly from Pune to Bangalore at 2:30 a.m. every day. On the other hand, in a non-scheduled airline, flights are arranged as needed, for example: chartered planes or an airline runs a one-off flight. This is due to rising business activity in less popular routes, where operating and maintaining flights on a regular basis is not profitable. 

 The Indian aviation sector has soared past pre-pandemic levels, both in passengers and cargo. This is leading to route expansion by many airlines (Indigo added 10 international and more domestic routes so far in 2025).

The Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)-UDAN, which aims to make air transport more accessible by incentivising airlines to operate in tier 2 and 3 towns, and developing infrastructure for airlines to operate, is going strong. India has two operational aerodromes (water bodies used by seaplanes to land) to connect relatively remote areas.  The government plans to build 18 more such aerodromes. It won't be long before planes landing in water are a common sight in India.

 The rapid growth in demand and fleet expansion calls for 37000 pilots and 38000 trained technicians. Even today, there is a shortage of trained pilots in India due to the high costs of pilot training. Additionally, many pilots are approaching retirement age, creating an even larger shortage of trained pilots. This will affect the ability of airlines to expand operations. To help counter this, the DGCA has been opening new flying training organisations. Two new FTOs were opened in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. 

Stay tuned for more on day 5! Authored by Laksh Ranglani