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Ailing Air India to recruit 100 pilots
26 Mar 2010, 0114 hrs IST, Manisha Singhal, ET Bureau
MUMBAI: India’s national carrier, which could be forced to pare salaries to fight its worst-ever financial crisis, will recruit 100 pilots to fly
the 27 new Boeing 787, which is being added to its ageing fleet.
Around 40 pilots will be from the waitlisted category, who will join within six months as Air India scrambles to fill the vacuum left by expat pilots. Of its 1,500 pilots, 108 are expats, a category that the government wants all Indian carriers to do away within a year.
An Air India official told ET that the firm will send pilots, currently flying the Boeing 777s, to train on the 787s. A 787 needs 6-7 set (commander and co-pilot) of navigators for each aircraft, and the carrier has to recruit more, said the official seeking anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media. “The compliance and preparedness for the 787 should have happened earlier for Air India, but still this recruitment is a step in the right direction,” said Kapil Kaul, CEO (India and Middle East), Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.
Air India has 27 Boeing 787s on order and the first deliveries will start in 2011. This lot will embellish the carrier’s active fleet of 115 aircraft by 2014. Air India has grounded the jumbos, the 747s and has till date added 40 new Airbus family aircraft. It has also inducted 18 737-8 — for its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express and 17 of the Boeing 777s — the wide body aircraft for the long-haul routes.
“The recruitment is part of the preparatory plan and is a continuous process. We cannot abruptly get ready for a new aircraft and get pilots from thin air,” said another Air India official.
The fresh drive comes amid suggestions from the Air India board to cut salaries across the board by at least 10-15%. Pilots had gone on strike over the issue of slashing productivity-linked incentives — a major component of their salaries, between 25% and 50% last year. Air India’s annual wage bill is Rs 3,200 crore. Despite a Rs 5,500-crore loss projected for this financial year, Air India has managed to raise $1.1 billion as debt funding for fleet acquisition from JP Morgan Chase, backed by sovereign guarantees for 10 of its Boeing deliveries. It is also looking to raise an additional Rs 700 crore for commercial funding through issuance of non-convertible debentures.
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