Air India Express - Air India's low cost wing using B737NGs (3 currently). Targetting price sensitive travellers in the India Middle East and India -SIN/KUL markets both of which are huge . Currently operating only to MCT,AUH and DXB from basically the Kerala airports (TRV/COK and CCJ) and a few flights from BOM and DEL as well. Things will get warm once Air Arabia starts operating to Kerala soon. Next phase of expansion will be from MAA/TRZ to SIN and KUL where there is another distinct price sensitive segment existing.
Spice Jet- Indian LCC operating domestic routes. Currently operating three leased 737 NGs from its base in DEL. Origins from former "Modiluft" which went bust in the mid 1990s. Top management has some ex Can Jet people. Operates mainly business routes such as DEL AMD or AMD BOM. Although an LCC, has avoided the pitfalls of competing for "popularity stakes" with other LCCs by offering unsustainable fares.
Kingfisher - Promoted by a industrialist with deep pockets. Has professional management running the airline, a mix of expats and Indian professionals. Uses A320s (currently 3) but operates only 3 routes - BLR - BOM. BLR- DEL and just starting BOM-DEL. Not positioned as an LCC, however in many cases their fares are as comppetitive as their LCC competitors. Pulled off a major coup, taking its competitors by surprise when it got into a maintenance agreement with public sector Indian Airlines (a big A320 operator) for its aircraft. Has ordered A330s as well and announced plans to float a US based company to operate services from US to India making use of the open skies agreement between US and India . Current Indian rules require domestic airlines to wait for five years before starting International services.
Of the rest, Paramount and Air One are both based in the south, in CJB and BLR respectively. Both plan to operate thinner, underserved routes , the former on a all business configuration. Runs the risk of being swamped under by the biggies like Jet and Indian Airlines who may dump capacity on their proposed routes and slash fares to boot!
Go- promoted by a big Indian business group in BOM. Talking for a long time - even has an ex Sky Europe person as the top guy but plans does not seem to have crystallised much....
The dark horse is IndiGo- Unlike most others who are only too ready to talk big, these guys are keeping a low profile. But as mentioned, good business background, the promoters understand the travel business inside out and the Indian promoter - "Interglobe" holds the General Sales Agency for a number of airlines like Delta, Virgin and United for many many years in addition to being the NMC for Galileo in India.
Regarding aviation as a career - the answer is YES. Till now it was a difficult scenario. After the first boom went BUST in the mid 1990s, for many years, the market has remained stagnant. Now things have turned on their head. The economy is steadily growing, and the LCCs have brought the fares down. India has a middle class which is steadily growing with increasing disposable incomes. Distances remain huge and surface alternatives (Train/Driving) are not practical in most cases. For instance between Bangalore and Hyderabad in the south, a distance of 350 miles, while the flight takes one hour, the quickest train takes 10 hours and drivng takes almost the same time.
There are quite a few Indians now abroad in US or Australia mainly, studying for their licences and once DGCA relaxes some of its non sensical rules for conversion (as it is bound to sooner than latter), then you will have more people taking up flying.
As for Indian flight schools - well- where do you get the instructors???
To conclude yes the way things are growing, I think the expats will be here for much longer than one year.