India’s bid to secure international agreement on cross-border hiring of pilots and aviation professionals has failed to find global support, according to official ICAO documentation from the 42nd Assembly held in Montreal between 23 September and 4 October 2025.
The proposal was reviewed by ICAO’s Economic Commission in late September 2025 as part of its agenda item on the economic development of air transport.
ICAO’s Economic Commission Draft Report, documents the outcome as follows (point 26.48)
“While the Commission expressed appreciation for the issues raised in WP/176, it noted that the majority of States did not support the action items presented in the paper as these were considered to undermine the core principles of labour-market competition. The Commission agreed with the views expressed by several States that these issues should be dealt with at a national level and do not fall within the purview of ICAO. “
The Background – India’s proposal
On 1 August 2025, the Government of India submitted Working Paper A42-WP/176, titled “Practices Impacting the Orderly Conduct of International Civil Aviation and Safety,” for consideration at the 42nd session of the ICAO Assembly, held in Montréal, Canada, from 23 September to 3 October 2025.
The paper raised concern over what it described as the “repeated tendency of the carriers of some Contracting States to induct the trained technical staffing of the Indian carriers without any consultation/notice thereby potentially causing disruption in the orderly conduct of civil aviation in India“
It argued that such practices were “disruptive to the orderly growth of national aviation systems”, particularly in emerging markets like India that are expanding their fleets and pilot workforce. The working paper invited the ICAO Assembly to “request the Air Transport Regulation Panel (ATRP) to develop specific guidance materials for a model Code of Conduct for the Contracting States to ensure that migration of trained aviation staffing, without any prior notice, must be balanced against the legitimate interests of States to maintain operational continuity and aviation safety standards“
India justified the proposal by citing the unprecedented growth of the domestic aviation market, “with passenger traffic rising from 61 million (2013-14) to 166 million (2024-25) with an increase of 135%. Combined aircraft orders across Indian carriers exceed 2,000 units, with domestic passenger traffic projected to reach 300 million by 2030”. The paper further argued that “to scale up operations, Indian airlines invest substantial time and resources in recruiting new pilots, engineers, technicians, aircraft maintenance engineer (AMEs), and cabin crew, and subsequently in their professional development.”
Back home, the Airline Pilots’ Association of India (ALPA-India) had already condemned the proposal, saying it would “impinge on pilots’ freedom to choose employment” and risked creating conditions for “bonded labour.”
The Assembly’s response reaffirms ICAO’s long-standing stance that employment and labor-mobility matters fall outside its remit, focusing instead on safety, security, and economic regulation of air transport. For India, the outcome means the issue will now likely shift back to the national and bilateral level, through domestic retention policies or discussions with key labor-importing States rather than through ICAO.
As the The Economic Commission observed in response to the proposal, “the focus of States should be on dialogue, retention and collaboration between stakeholders.”
Read: IndiGo Long-Haul expansion: What It Means for Gulf Airlines
Read: In-flight Lithium Battery Fires: Five Alarming Cases in 2025 That Expose a Growing Risk
💬 Join the conversation: We’d love to hear your take on X (Twitter) or LinkedIn.
