The Ministry of Civil Aviation informed the Parliament recently that India has 10% more women pilots than the global average and shared measures taken by the ministry to promote civil aviation in the country.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, minister of state, civil aviation (Gen. (Dr.) VK Singh (Retd), said, “Globally, according to the International Society of Women Airline Pilots, around 5% of pilots are women. In India, the share of women pilots is significantly higher – over 15%,” said. “As per the information available with the e-governance of civil aviation, out of the 17,726 registered pilots in India, the number of women pilots is 2, 764,” he said.

MoS VK Singh added that the women in Aviation International, India Chapter, are taking multiple initiatives to increase female participation in the civil aviation sector such as industry and leading women aviation professionals with a special focus on young schoolgirls, especially from low-income families.

Some initiatives taken by the ministry to promote pilot training include, issuing award letters for nine new Flying Training Organizations (FTO) at five airport authorities of India with rationalized land charges, digitization of approval process at the regulator DGCA and greater empowerment of flying instructors, said MoS Singh. These measures are likely to increase the flying hours at FTOs and the number of Commercial Pilot Licenses issued per year, the minister added.

The civil aviation ministry also informed that there is no proposal to establish more universities through the public-private partnership model.