A total of 1,490 foreign pilots have been cleared by the government to work for Indian civil aviation sector to make up for the acute shortage faced by the booming industry.

This was stated by Director General of Civil Aviation Kanu Gohain, who maintained that it was a just short term measure.

"Right now, foreign pilots are on contract for one year, extendable upto three years," he said at an international conference on aviation in New Delhi.

Gohain said there is a proposal to extend the term of the foreign pilots to four years to provide time for many Indians pilots to train and gain the required experience to fly civilian planes.

A system is already in place to induct military pilots into the civilian industry if they wished to switch over, he said, while informing that eight Air Force pilots have already been inducted.

Air India has a programme to train the military pilots on the necessary skills like handling of civilian aircrafts, conducting skill tests and examinations, he said.

The number of flights in the country is set to multiply by three times in ten years, and passengers to the tune of 300 million by 2020 from the present 55-60 million, said Ashok Chawla, secretary, ministry of civil aviation.