The Hindu Business Line : Foreign pilots replacement deadline looms over airlines

Mumbai, July 31 With barely a year left for the DGCA (Director-General of Civil Aviation) deadline on replacing foreign pilots with Indian, domestic airlines are in a quandary, especially for international routes.

There is a shortage of type-rated Indian pilots to make up for the foreign pilots who would have to be replaced.

Of the 686 foreign pilots in India, 666 are commanders (senior pilots), who are in big demand because of their flying experience. The remaining 20 are co-pilots.

The Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, acknowledged this in Parliament and said, “There is a shortage of type-rated commanders in some category of aircraft, which is primarily due to induction of new (type of) aircraft.”

Mr Kapil Kaul, CEO, Indian Subcontinent and Middle East, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, says, “Replacement on the domestic side would not be as difficult.

Long-haul routes

However, on the long-haul routes served by wide-bodied aircraft of the likes of Boeing 777s, experience and proficiency of pilots are critical.”

It would take at least three years for a co-pilot to log the mandated 2,500 flying hours to become a commander.

This would pose a problem especially for Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, which are expanding their international networks.

Jet Airways offers over 75 daily international flights and will launch six more (full-service) by September-end. . Kingfisher plans eight new international flights this fiscal. Even low-cost carrier SpiceJet, which will be eligible to fly international from next year, is up against this challenge. “We are working towards it,” a company spokesperson said.

Hence, while airlines can look forward to saving Rs 250 crore or more annually with the exit of foreign pilots, they have to find the right replacements for these long-haul routes.

An expatriate pilot flying a typical wide-bodied aircraft earns on average Rs 5.5 lakh a month with perks such as five-star accommodation and travel allowances expanding his cheque to Rs 6 lakh.

In contrast, an Indian counterpart earns much less at Rs 3.5 lakh a month.

There is talk that Jet is likely to complete this exercise by the end of this fiscal. However, Mr Saroj Datta, Jet’s Executive Director, told Business Line, “There are no such timelines. The decision regarding expatriate pilots’ contracts is based on operational requirements.”

The airline reportedly has around 250 foreign pilots on its rolls out of the overall strength of 1,100.

Some five years ago, Indian carriers were forced to hire foreign pilots at high salaries to overcome the shortage of skilled pilots in India.

However, the DGCA in a revised Civil Aviation Requirement dated November 1, 2006, set guidelines which require airlines to adopt effective training programmes for Indian pilots so they can replace foreign pilots after completion of training.

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