New Delhi, Mar 23 (IANS): There are approximately 10,000 pilots including 67 foreign nationals employed with various airlines in India.

Minister of State, Civil Aviation, V.K. Singh, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Thursday said that currently, there are 67 Foreign Aircrew Temporary Authorisation (FATA) holders in India.

A total of 15 FATA holders are with Alliance Air while 8 are with Big Charters.

As per industry projections, there may be a need for 1,000 pilots per annum in India over the next five years.

The annual requirement of commercial pilots depends upon various factors such as financial health of an airline, airline expansion plan and growth in the aviation sector.

The reply said that there are 35 DGCA approved flying training organisations (FTOs) in India operating at 53 bases.

As per data received from various Indian scheduled airlines, a total of 244 pilots have been recruited in the year 2021, said the reply.

"Currently, there is no special programme in the government to encourage pilot training for women and backward classes including SCs/STs. However, 15 per cent of pilots in India are women which is almost three times the global average of 5 per cent," added the reply.

As on March 1, a total of 15,896 regular officials are employed in the Airports Authority of India (AAI) posted across various airports/stations.

All AAI employees are Indian nationals, added the reply.