Page 7 - Pilots

Air India to hire 900 pilots, 4,200 trainee crew to support growth plans

At present Air India has 115 aircraft. This calendar year it will receive six Airbus A350s and 25 Boeing 737 Max planes; will also take 36 aircraft on lease

Aviation regulator DGCA recommends measures to boost mental health of crew

The regulator is of the view that the pressures and stressors at workplace and personal life cannot be addressed through these professional skills, procedures or knowledge

Air India will require more than 6,500 pilots for 470 planes, says report

Air India will require more than 6,500 pilots to operate 470 aircraft that are to be supplied by Airbus and Boeing in the coming years, according to industry sources. Seeking to expand fleet as well as operations, the airline has placed orders for acquiring a total of 840 aircraft that includes an option to buy 370 planes. This is one of the largest aircraft order by any airline. Currently, Air India has around 1,600 pilots to operate its 113 aircraft fleet and in recent times, there have been instances of ultra-long haul flights getting cancelled or delayed due to shortage of crew. The airline's two subsidiaries -- Air India Express and AirAsia India -- together have around 850 pilots for flying their 54 planes while the joint venture Vistara has more than 600 pilots. The latter has a fleet of 53 aircraft, one of the sources told PTI. Air India, Air India Express, Vistara and AirAsia India together have little over 3,000 pilots to operate the combined fleet of 220 aircraft. The .

IndiGo restores pilots' increments amid financial turnaround, Q3 profit

Airline made net profit of Rs 1,422 cr in Q3FY23, after three consecutive quarters of loss

Scindia's intervention sought to revoke suspension of pilot's licence

The Federation of Indian Pilots wrote to Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia seeking his intervention to revoke the suspension of licence of the pilot-in-command of the Air India flight

US accuses former army pilot of illegally training Chinese military pilots

The US has accused a former military pilot of illegally training Chinese military pilots, and is trying to extradite him from Australia. But the pilot's lawyer says his client has been unfairly singled out because of the current geopolitical struggle between the US and China. Pilot Daniel Duggan, 54, has been held in an Australian jail since his October arrest. Duggan's lawyer Dennis Miralis said outside a Sydney courtroom Tuesday that Duggan denies the allegations and will continue to fight the extradition process at every step. Australia's Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus last month approved the US extradition request. But before the extradition can proceed, a judge must first determine whether Duggan is eligible for extradition under Australian law. Miralis said the US Department of Defence had acknowledged there were other people helping foreign militaries but that the US and Australia had singled out Duggan for extradition. We are concerned that this does highlight the political

Drunk man not in senses, buck stops with pilot: Mishra's co-passenger

A drunk person may not be in his senses but the flight crew showed no compassion and failed in their responsibility, said a US-based doctor seated next to the man who urinated on a woman in an inebriated state on an Air India flight from New York to Delhi. In an interview to PTI, Dr Sugata Bhattacharjee narrated the sordid events in the business class cabin of Flight AI102 on November 26, which have become front page news after they came to light last week. Bhattacharjee, who is based in New Hampshire state, wrote an elaborate complaint to Air India immediately after the flight landed, detailing his experience with his co-passenger Shankar Mishra and his interactions with the cabin crew He told PTI he is speaking out now to elaborate on the complaint because of claims by Mishra's father that his son is innocent and may have been a victim of extortion. "It was a moral call for me, it was morality and I thought it was my moral obligation to stand and make a complaint and I did," he .

Senior execs, some pilots, cabin crew leave Jet Airways, says report

With continuing uncertainty over Jet Airways' future, at least two senior executives as well as some pilots and cabin crew have quit the airline, according to sources. Jalan Kalrock consortium emerged as the winning bidder for Jet Airways under the insolvency resolution process in June 2021 but the carrier is yet to start operations. The sources close to the development said the Vice Presidents of Engineering and Human Resources have left the airline. Some pilots and cabin crew have also left the airline. Besides, some senior-level executives have gone on Leave Without Pay (LWP), the sources said. Details about the current employee strength at the airline could not be immediately ascertained. A senior executive at the airline said the upside potential of a revived Jet Airways is tremendous for all stakeholders and customers. A Jet Airways spokesperson declined to comment. Earlier, the carrier had reduced salaries for various staff and send many employees on LWP amid uncertainty

Air India pilot refuses to fly dog; Here are the rules for flying pets

He said that the airline staff told him that the commander of the flight was not okay with the pet being on board and refused permission

Aviation regulator DGCA boosts its eGCA portal; adds new features

Aviation regulator DGCA has introduced new features on its e-governance platform for stakeholders, including the facility to fetch pilots' flying hours on a real-time basis that will also help in faster processing of licence applications. Besides, the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) database has been integrated with the civil aviation ministry's heli-sewa portal that will allow speedier processing of landing requests. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), operators are now issued the certificate of airworthiness with respect to newly inducted aircraft at foreign delivery locations through the regulator's eGCA portal for ferrying the planes to India. The eGCA, a single window e-governance platform, has been enhanced to further improve the ease of doing business in the civil aviation ecosystem, a senior DGCA official said on Sunday. The pilot e-logbook in eGCA has been integrated with various operators' internal software through API (Application Programming ..

Pilots' associations flag 'punishing schedules' issue to Air India

Pilots' associations have expressed their displeasure over the functioning of crew management system (CMS) and day operations (DOPS) with the Air India management

DGCA issues 1,081 commercial pilot licenses in 2022, highest in past decade

Aviation regulator DGCA has issued 1,081 commercial pilot licenses in 2022, which is the highest for any year in the last one decade, according to official data. The record issuance of Commercial Pilot Licenses (CPLs) also comes at a time when the country's civil aviation sector is recovering at a fast pace after being hit by the coronavirus pandemic and the domestic air traffic is inching towards the pre-pandemic level. A senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) told PTI on Sunday that 1,081 CPLs have been issued in 2022 till December 6 and the number is likely to cross 1,100 by the year-end. This is also the highest for any year since 2011, as per the data. In 2014, the number of CPLs issued stood at 896 while the count was at 862 in 2021. In 2015, the CPLs issued declined to 394 and rose to 537 in 2016. Further, it increased to 552 in 2017 and 640 in 2018. The data showed that in 2019, the number of CPLs touched 744 before declining to 578 in 2020. T

Air India plans to hire over 100 expat pilots for wide-body planes: Report

The carrier is looking to rope in around 100 pilots for the wide-body Boeing 777 fleet and has approached various agencies that provide expat flight crew to airlines, the sources told PTI

Pilots, officers apprehensive of SpiceJet's salary hike announcement

Days after SpiceJet announced a salary hike for its pilots, a section of captains and first officers of the airline has expressed apprehension about the implementation of the revised remuneration citing terms and conditions. In a communication to pilots on October 19, SpiceJet said effective November 1, 2022, its captains' salaries will increase to Rs 7 lakh for 80 hours of monthly flying and Rs 6.13 lakh for 70 hours from the current Rs 4.5 lakh-level which was made effective from October 1, 2022. Accordingly, salaries of trainers and senior first officers have also been increased commensurately, the Gurugram-headquartered airline said. The trainers comprise Designated Examiner (DE), Type Ratings Instructor (TRI) and Line Training Captain (LTC). However, a section of pilots alleged that the airline has announced a hike in their remunerations while they are yet to get salaries at par with pre-COVID levels, a claim denied by SpiceJet. On an average, a captain is currently getting .

Air India gets 72,000 job applications for cabin crew; 1,752 for pilots

The airline's aggressive expansion plan, which has already seen 17 long-grounded aircraft return to the skies with 12 more to follow, necessitates a significant expansion in flying crew

Amid expanding fleet, Vistara looks to hire AirAsia pilots on deputation

Full service carrier Vistara is looking to rope in pilots on deputation from budget airline AirAsia India to ensure adequate crew for its expanding fleet of A320 planes, according to sources. Both airlines are part of the Tata group and the latest move indicates efforts to have more synergy as well as optimal use of manpower among group carriers. Tata group also owns Air India and Air India Express. Vistara -- a joint venture between the Tatas and Singapore Airlines -- has a fleet of 53 aircraft. These include 41 A320s and five A321s. The airline is planning to increase the fleet to 70 planes by December 2023. AirAsia India operates a fleet of A320 planes. "Vistara has sought some pilots from AirAsia India on deputation in view of the induction of new aircraft, a proposal which the budget carrier has consented to," one of the sources told PTI on condition of anonymity. Both Vistara and AirAsia India declined to comment on the matter. According to the sources, Vistara has been ..

China struggling to find trained pilots for three aircraft carriers: Report

China is struggling to find enough trained pilots to operate fighter jets from aircraft carriers, prompting its navy with two aircraft carriers commissioned and another launched in June, to speed up the pilot training programme, a media report here said. The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is struggling to meet increased demand for qualified ship-borne fighter jet pilots to operate the specially made J-15 jets for the aircraft carriers. The PLAN has sped up carrier-based fighter jet pilot training programmes in the decade since the commissioning of its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, but its lack of a fighter trainer specifically designed for carrier-based operations has hindered progress, according to an article published in Ordnance Industry Science Technology, a Chinese military magazine. With Fujian, China's third and most advanced aircraft carrier, having started sea trials last week, the PLA needed at least 200 qualified carrier-based fighter jet pilots to operate 1

Amid growing air traffic in India, pilots experience increased fatigue

Amid the country's growing air traffic and expanding aircraft fleet, fatigue among pilots seems to be a dark cloud with senior captains and pilots' groupings stressing on the need for more serious efforts to address the concerns. While regulations on flight duty time limitations and specific rest periods are in place, a more scientific approach as well as a better fatigue reporting system will help in tackling the "silent danger of fatigue", according to the senior captains. In signs that fatigue is a worrying factor for the fast growing Indian aviation space, a recent survey of 542 pilots by NGO Safety Matters Foundation showed that majority of them admitted to falling asleep without planning/ consent of the other crew or experienced micro sleep. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) -- a global grouping of airlines, including from India -- said fatigue has long been identified as a potential safety risk and the industry has developed extensive Standards and Recommende

Pilots' grouping seeks changes in fatigue management norms for flight crew

A grouping of pilots has sought changes in the norms regarding fatigue management for flight crew, saying the regulations should be based on scientific principles, operational knowledge and experience. Fatigue among pilots is a concern and there have been reports of pilots falling asleep while operating flights. A recent survey of 542 pilots by NGO Safety Matters Foundation showed 66 per cent of the respondents admitted that they have fallen asleep without planning/consent of the other crew or experienced micro sleep. The Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA), which represents pilots of narrow-body aircraft at Air India, has urged civil aviation regulator DGCA to do away with all the current regulations related to fatigue management for flight crew and formulate new norms. In a letter, dated September 12, written to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the association also said that professionals, organisations and associations like ICPA should be involved while

SpiceJet says will hike salaries of senior pilots by 20% from October

The carrier earlier this week sent 80 pilots on leave without pay for three months to save costs