The DGCA FTO ranking is the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's scorecard for the flying training organisations (FTOs) it approves in India. Each school gets a score out of 100, built from measurable data such as how long cadets take to finish 175 hours of flying, how many students share each aircraft and instructor, and whether the school had accidents or safety findings. The score then places the school in Category A+, A, B or C.
In short, the ranking tells you how a school performed against DGCA's own yardsticks over a fixed period. It does not tell you the fees, the quality of a particular instructor or whether a seat is free next month. This guide walks through the method as DGCA published it in its public notice of 30 September 2025, so you can read a school's grade with the right expectations. You can see every school's current grade in our flight school directory.
Where the DGCA FTO ranking came from
DGCA announced the ranking framework in a public notice dated 8 July 2025. Its notice of 30 September 2025 attached the first list and the method, effective from 1 October 2025. The notice says rankings will be published twice a year. The second phase was released on 24 April 2026 by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, as described in the PIB release of that date, with the list itself on DGCA's website.
The stated aim, in the Minister's words, is to make pilot training more transparent and to help aspiring cadets and their families decide with more clarity. For a student about to commit a large sum to a commercial pilot course, that is the practical use: a shortlist tool based on data the regulator already holds.
Who gets ranked and who is left out
For the first phase, DGCA looked at data from 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025. Two kinds of school were left out:
- Schools that had not completed 18 months from their date of approval by the cut-off date, which is the rule the method states.
- Schools whose approval was not valid on the cut-off date, as shown in DGCA's exclusion list.
Schools with a temporary suspension or a pause in flying during the period were still ranked, not excluded.
The April 2026 list used 28 February 2026 as its cut-off for these checks. It excluded six schools: four that had not completed 18 months, one whose approval was not valid and one that DGCA marked as non-operational with no flying since February 2023. If a school you are considering does not appear in a category, look at the exclusion list before drawing conclusions. A new school simply may not have enough history yet.
The five areas and their weightage
DGCA splits the 100 points into five areas. Most of the data comes from official records: DGCA's eGCA portal, its airworthiness, air safety and surveillance directorates, and accident investigations by the AAIB. About 15 points, covering student support and the ground school and simulator item, are checked against the school's own website and grievance records.
- FTO performance: 20 points.
- Operational aspects: 40 points.
- Safety standards: 20 points.
- Compliance standards: 10 points.
- Assistance to students: 10 points.
Operations carry the most weight, which makes sense for a student. Whether there are enough aircraft, instructors and engineers decides how fast you actually fly.
FTO performance (20 points)
- Average time to complete 175 hours of flying (10 points): 12 months or less earns full marks, 12 to 15 months earns 5, and longer earns nothing. Only cadets who flew all 175 hours with the same school and finished within the period count.
- Average aircraft utilisation over the last six months (5 points): the benchmark is 150 hours per aircraft per month. Utilisation of 150 hours or more earns 5, 100 to 150 earns 3 and under 100 earns nothing. DGCA gives no allowance for groundings, weather, NOTAMs or ATC restrictions.
- Ratio of cadets completing 175 hours to new enrolments (5 points): new enrolments means students issued a Student Pilot Licence in the period. A ratio of 1 or more earns 5, 0.75 to 1 earns 3, and lower earns nothing.
Operational aspects (40 points)
- Student to aircraft ratio (10 points): 10 or fewer students per trainer aircraft earns 10, 11 to 15 earns 5, more than 15 earns nothing. Only aircraft in the school's latest approved training manual count.
- Student to instructor ratio (10 points): the same bands. Only instructors who actually flew at least 150 days with the school during the period count.
- Fleet to engineer ratio (10 points): aircraft per full-time DGCA-approved aircraft maintenance engineer (AME) with at least 10 months of service in the last year. Up to 8 points depend on the ratio of aircraft to B1-rated engineers, and 2 more depend on having a B2 (avionics) rated engineer.
- Fleet size (5 points): 10 or more aircraft including at least one multi-engine aircraft earns full marks, and smaller fleets score progressively less.
- Ground school and simulators (5 points): 3 points for an approved in-house ground school at the flying base, plus 2 for an owned, approved simulator or 1 if the simulator is used under an agreement with another organisation.
If you want to understand why fleet numbers matter so much, our guide to flight school fleet size goes deeper. The engineer parameter connects to the AME licence, since a school cannot fly aircraft that nobody is licensed to release.
Safety standards (20 points)
This area is blunt. A school with zero accidents in the period gets 18 points; one accident or more, as defined in DGCA's CAR Section 5, Series C, Part I, means zero. Zero incidents or serious incidents earns the remaining 2 points. Solo and dual flights count the same. On top of that, DGCA deducts 5 marks from the overall score for each accident or incident a school fails to report.
Compliance standards (10 points)
- Level 1 safety findings by DGCA (5 points): none earns 5, one earns 2, more than one earns nothing. A finding counts even if the school fixed it afterwards.
- Alcohol breath test cases (5 points): any confirmed positive test or refusal by instructors, trainees, maintenance staff or other staff in the preceding 12 months, before or after flight, takes the full 5 points away.
Assistance to students (10 points)
- Grievance handling (4 points): the school must publish a grievance policy with response timelines and an escalation route. Up to five complaints escalated to DGCA through the public grievance portal still earns 4 points, five to ten earns 2, and a school with no published policy gets nothing.
- Financial help (2 points): published details of state sponsorship or subsidy, bank loan tie-ups or loan guarantees.
- Placement support (2 points): 10 or more students helped into jobs in the last six months earns 2, five to nine earns 1.
- Fee and refund transparency (2 points): a published fee schedule, refund policy with timelines and the standard agreement or bond on the school's website, with no hidden charges.
How the score becomes a category
The September 2025 notice revised the bands. The April 2026 list did not republish the method, and neither DGCA nor PIB announced changes to it. The bands are as follows. Schools in Category C receive a notice from DGCA asking them to analyse and improve their performance.
- Category A+: 85% and above.
- Category A: 70% to less than 85%.
- Category B: 50% to less than 70%.
- Category C: below 50%.
DGCA publishes the category, not the raw score, so a school near the top of a band and one near the bottom carry the same grade. Treat schools in the same band as broadly comparable on DGCA's measures. You can filter our directory by grade, for example Category B schools.
What the two rankings so far show
In the first ranking, dated 30 September 2025, no school reached A+ or A. As PTI reported, 13 schools were in Category B and 22 in Category C, with five excluded. In the April 2026 ranking, one school, Avyanna Aviation, reached Category A, while 17 schools were in B and 17 in C. The PIB release singled out the Ministry's own academy, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi, for significant progress; it moved from Category C in the first list to Category B in the second.
Schools can move a full band between phases, in either direction. A grade is a snapshot of one assessment window, so check which list you are reading. Our comparison of government and private schools uses the same April 2026 data.
How to use the DGCA FTO ranking when choosing a school
Use the grade to build a shortlist, then ask each school for the underlying numbers. The method itself tells you which questions matter:
- How many aircraft are serviceable today, and how many students are currently flying?
- How many instructors flew regularly over the last year, not just how many are approved?
- How long did your last batch take to finish 175 hours?
- Is the ground school approved and at the flying base? Is the simulator owned or shared?
- Where are the fee schedule, refund policy and bond published?
Compare the answers with what the school's grade implies, and visit the base before paying. Our guide on how to choose a DGCA flight school has a full checklist, and how to become a commercial pilot in India covers the steps around training, including the Class 1 and Class 2 medicals.
Beyond the flight school
A CPL is the start of a career that runs on the same discipline the ranking rewards: safety records, fatigue rules and honest reporting. Pilots who go on to fly business jets and helicopters work within DGCA duty time limits, which BookAir explains for charter travellers. If you are curious about that side of aviation, the operators who hire such pilots are listed in our charter operator directory.
Common questions
What is the DGCA FTO ranking?
It is DGCA's grading of the flying training organisations it approves in India. Each school is scored out of 100 on performance, operations, safety, compliance and student support, and placed in Category A+, A, B or C.
How often does DGCA publish the FTO ranking?
DGCA's notice says twice a year. The first ranking was dated 30 September 2025 and took effect from 1 October 2025; the second was released on 24 April 2026. The April 2026 list is the latest we could find as on 1 November 2026.
What score does a flight school need for Category A?
Under DGCA's notice of 30 September 2025, Category A is a score of 70% to less than 85%. Category A+ needs 85% or more, Category B is 50% to under 70%, and Category C is below 50%.
Why is a flight school missing from the DGCA ranking?
DGCA leaves out schools approved for less than 18 months on the cut-off date, and its lists have also excluded schools whose approval was not valid on that date. In April 2026 it also excluded one school it described as non-operational. Check the exclusion list at the end of the ranking.
Does one accident affect a flight school's DGCA ranking?
Yes. One or more accidents in the assessment period removes all 18 points for that parameter, and each accident or incident a school fails to report costs a further 5 marks from its overall score.
Is a Category C flight school unsafe?
Not necessarily. Category C means an overall score below 50%, which can come from slow training, high student ratios or missing website policies as well as safety. Ask the school which parameters pulled its score down.
Sources
- DGCA public notice: Ranking System for DGCA approved FTOs (30 September 2025)
- DGCA: Ranking of Flying Training Organizations (April 2026)
- PIB, Ministry of Civil Aviation: 2nd phase of FTO ranking (24 April 2026)
- PSU Watch (PTI): DGCA issues rankings of flying training organisations (1 October 2025)
- BookAir: Crew duty limits and long charter days
General information, checked against the sources above on the date published. It is not legal, regulatory or medical advice. Rules change, so confirm with DGCA or the relevant authority before acting.