But, with the appearance of private domestic airlines, the demand for trained pilots has increased in leaps and bounds.

According to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, a leading specialist consulting and research organisation focusing on Asian aviation, India currently needs about 500 pilots a year; only 200 are being produced.

Air India is now trying to recruit pilots fresh from college to meet its growing demand. It is in the process of being merged with its domestic counterpart, Indian (formerly Indian Airlines). After the merger, the fleet size of the airline will be over 120 planes.

The new airline will need at least 500 pilots over the next three years, which is why the national carrier is picking up BSc students fresh out of college. Students who pass the airline's pilot aptitude test will be offered training abroad.

On successful completion of the course, they will then be required to join Air India. AI is also arranging bank loans to facilitate the cost of the training. These loans will later be paid off from their salary, which will be equivalent to the kind of salary you can get after an MBA.

Besides government airlines, India's largest private airline company, Jet Airways, is also planning to increase its pilot strength from the current 550. Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, chief executive officer, Jet Airways, says, "To cater to our expanding fleet and operations, we are aggressively looking at having 1,400 pilots by the year 2008."

Jet Airways is already facing a shortage of around 10 per cent when it comes to the number of pilots they require to fly their planes.