“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.

Image Courtesy: CAE

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 more competitive?

A: If I look outside India, the market is already competitive. The one thing that I can tell you is we’re very confident about our strategy and our present market leadership. CAE’s footprint today is across the globe. In India, we have 17 simulators, but worldwide, we have about 250 simulators in 60 different locations and in 35 different countries. When I look, not that I want to get into the competitive details, but when I look at the next competitor, I think you can see we’re the market leader from that perspective by far.

I think competition is good in some cases as it makes us better and ensures we’re not taking this position for granted. We continue to push and innovate and improve the service we offer clients. I’m not too concerned about a lot of entrants coming into India because we feel very good about the partnerships we have with the airline. At the end of the day, it’s really who you’re there to support. You think about IndiGo, we’ve been together for over a decade now. We have a very good agreement with Akasa and today, we’re supporting a little bit of the training for Air India as well.

I’m more focused about the relationship and the agreements with the airlines than the actual competitors coming into the country or the region.

Q: Sim Business is a highly costly business as setting up the infrastructure is not an easy task as it requires a lot of capital. What factors you keep for adding up any new base in a region?

A: A lot of capital is needed at the offset – and it takes and a lot of time to get a return on the investment. We look at two things; do we have the right amount of simulators capacity into the country? And, are we at the right locations? Of course, you want to maximize every location as well. In India, for example, we initially started with Greater Noida and Bangalore and then we decided we needed more room to expand in the Delhi area. That’s why we went into Gurugram and opened up that training centre. Now, we are looking at atleast two other locations that we would like to expand on.

For us, we spend a lot of time speaking with our customers – airlines – about their needs. We don’t go and open up a facility and just wait for people to come. We actually work very closely with our airline partners and ask them: What’s your pain point? Which location is important for you? Where are your demographic of pilots today? Where is it going to be in the future? And then we make sure that the capacity matches their needs.

Q: Anything specific would you like to say to all the aviation enthusiasts?

A: It’s a great time to join the aviation industry. Our talent forecast estimates the need for 1.5 million civil aviation professionals by 2034 in a variety of positions, so young talent can feel confident that this industry will bring those jobs and success.