‘India has maximum number of female pilots in the world’, says Jayant Sinha

Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation said recently that India holds the record for producing the maximum number of female pilots in the world.

“India is the country with the maximum number of women pilots in the world, be it in Air India or Indian Air Force. This is a testimony of the contribution made by women to the aviation sector and also by the country to their careers”, Sinha said during a gathering at the golden jubilee celebrations of the India Women Pilots Association (IWPA)

He also noted that the strong presence of women in the aviation sector has led to it’s growth, and their support is still needed to strengthen that area. Sinha also suggested that a possible solution to the country’s traffic problem would be to ‘utilise’ the sky. “The traffic problem can be dealt with if we decide to go vertical and utilise the sky area. It happens in many countries”, he said.

Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa too lauded the contribution of women to the aviation sector at the event.

According to Mirror Now, official data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation Domestic air passenger traffic in India increased 17 percent to 1.12 crore in December 2017 in comparison to 95.52 lakh reported in the same month in 2016. It also suggested that there was a 17 percent rise in domestic passenger traffic in Jan-Dec 2017, indicating that there has been a rise in domestic air travel in the country.