“CAE is not just about developing a state-of-the-art full-flight simulator; it also provides world-leading training for pilots, maintenance technicians, cabin crew and air traffic controllers” According to CAE’s biennial Aviation Talent Forecast, an estimated 1.5 million civil aviation professionals will be needed worldwide by 2034 – with the largest percentage required in the Asia Pacific region. The comprehensive 2025 edition of the forecast analyzes the need for pilots, aircraft maintenance technicians, cabin crew, and, for the first time, air traffic controllers, predicting that 71,000 controllers will be needed globally over the next 10 years. At the recently concluded International Paris Air Show, Mr. Michel Azar-Hmouda, CAE Division President, Commercial Aviation in an exclusive interview with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World shares the insight of CAEs presence into India and the plans ahead on the map. Excerpts… Q: CAE published the requirement of talent forecast needed over next 10 years. So, would you elaborate in details, about this forecast and specific to the numbers for Asia, and India in particular? A: I will share with you the mechanics around and how we look at this forecast in terms of a 10-year view. There are really two components to it; one is the aircraft deliveries coming to a specific region. Based on how many aircraft are coming to a region or country, we work out on the required numbers of cabin crew, maintenance crew and pilots that will be required. In the Asia-Pacific region, of course, India plays a major part. It’s clear when you look at all the announcements and the growth that’s happening in the country. The second component to how we calculate our Aviation Talent Forecast is that we look at the demographic of the active workforce today that’s providing the current manpower; whether it’s pilot, maintenance, or cabin crew. We look at when are some of these people are expected to retire, when we believe some of these people will leave basically, we look at the anticipated turnover. After looking at these two sets of data, we map out expectations in terms of how many people are required to be hired and trained over the next decade. Asia-Pacific is the region in which we see the most demand in terms of pilots: we calculate that, some 100,000 pilots will be required in the Asia-Pacific region alone over the next 10 years. This talent forecast helps us at CAE, to strategize priorities, although of course, our customer needs are also a main vector for our strategy. Both these elements help us identify where we need to grow our infrastructure in terms of training centres and number of simulators so as to be able to train the required number of pilots and help them achieve their career goals while also supporting the airlines to make sure that they have the employees needed to operate safely. Q: What types of simulators does CAE have in India? A: We have a mix of simulators at training centers in India. Most are for the Airbus A320, as that’s the most common aircraft operating in India right now. We are also looking at adding an Airbus A350 as IndiGo has announced ordering those aircraft and of course the simulators have to be in place before they take delivery of the aircraft so that the pilots are ready to fly. We also have Boeing 737 MAX simulators which supports Akasa Air and some of Air India’s needs as they ramp up their own capacity. We also have ATR 72 -600 simulators, which supports IndiGo’s regional fleet. Q: New airlines are coming up in India and the existing ones are also adding new aircrafts gradually. This is creating demand to enhance training infrastructure. How do you see that situation? A: At present, CAE, including its partnership with IndiGo, has 17 full-flight simulators in India based at three locations- Greater Noida, Gurugram and Bengaluru. Eventually, we hope to add simulators to expand training capacity. We are also enhancing our presence in cadet flight schools – we do already have a presence in ab initio training in India. Working with regulators is also extremely important. At the IATA AGM in Delhi, I met with some of the DGCA officials and we’re moving forward towards getting MPL approved in India. MPL (Multi Crew Pilot Licence) Training Programme is basically a programme in which less time is spent in a flight school and more is spent in a simulator. With this programme, the infrastructure requires more simulators versus more flight schools – and adding simulators is a little simpler to implement than creating new flight schools. This will help us provide more volume of training for the future generation, mainly on the pilot side. Q: So, you talked about the cadet training programme. Can you highlight about the CAE IndiGo Cadet Pilot Programme that is in India? A: We have a cadet programme in India with IndiGo based out of Gondia in Maharashtra. This dedicated facility for ab initio pilot training welcomes a little over 100 cadets per year. They train on Diamond 40 and Diamond 42 aircraft. The training at Gondia is the first phase: students come with zero hours of training and we train them to become a pilot. Then, they go to CAE’s New Delhi (NCR) Greater Noida – CAE Simulation Training Private Limited (CSTPL) training centre, and are trained to become first officer to go fly for the airline. Q: Is there any further expansion plan for the flight school? A: The expansion plan we’re looking at currently revolves around the simulators especially if the MPL programme goes ahead. If it gets approved, a lot more simulators will be required. So, we’re trying to focus on and prioritise the training centre footprint expansion. As for the ab initio flight school side, we may do more partnerships instead of fully owning and operating them. Q: With presence of other Sim operators and with new one coming, do you think that the India market is getting
