Airlines may get reprieve in expat pilot phase-out

Regulator may extend deadline after industry says it lacks Indian commanders

The year-old controversy over hiring expatriate pilots is likely to intensify, with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) considering an extension of the deadline for their phase-out.

The airline industry regulator is considering the move in response to requests by airlines that say they lack Indian commanders and senior pilots to replace all the 600 expatriate pilots on their rosters. The phase-out deadline is July 1, 2010.
 

FOREIGN HANDS (Who has how many)
Air India	153
Jet Airways	200
IndiGo	25
Kingfisher	200
SpiceJet	22

Commanders require about 2,800 hours of flying time as a co-pilot, a process that takes about four years. Airlines contend that the services of at least 25 per cent of the current complement of expat pilots would be required after the July deadline.

"It is not possible to phase out all the expat pilots by the July deadline and we expect that at least 150 of them will be needed still for some period of time," a DGCA official explains.

“We are monitoring how airlines are reducing the number of expat pilots and a decision on an extension could be taken soon,” he adds.

Although an extension will be a reprieve for the airlines — mainly Air India, Jet and Kingfisher — and the expat pilots that face a global slump in demand for their services, local associations have protested strongly.

"This would be a wrong move. We already have a lot of qualified pilots in the country who need to be accommodated in senior positions," says Ravindra Kumar, president of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association, which represents the erstwhile Indian Airlines pilots (Indian Airlines was merged with Air India).

A senior committee member of the executive pilots association of Air India adds, "Co-pilots are not being trained to become commanders so that a shortage is being created. Otherwise we don't need expats even now, forget about July."

Indian pilots are also aggrieved because expats earn salaries that are at least 15 per cent higher, even when the carriers cut salaries and emoluments of local pilots owing to the slowdown.

DGCA's order of June 2008 was taken primarily to create opportunities for Indian pilots, especially at a time when around 3,000 pilots were looking for jobs and the slowdown had forced airlines to retrench hundreds of pilots .

This will not be the first time DGCA has had to postpone a phase-out deadline for expat pilots. The regulator extended the deadline in 2008 for hiring only Indians as co-pilots by two years after the airlines said fresh pilots could not start flying immediately and they would need training, which could take a few months.

State-owned Air India has 153 expat pilots and has said it will promote 50 co-pilots with sufficient hours as commanders, which leaves a deficit of over 100 pilots.

Jet Airways and Kingfisher have around 200 expats each and they are also trying various ways to phase out the expats. SpiceJet and IndiGo, the two low-cost carriers, have very few expats and say they are working to meet the DGCA directive.