Aviation industry reels under shortage of co-pilots

Mumbai: Airlines suffering from a dearth of commanders have now realised that even Commercial Pilot’s Licence (CPL) holders fresh out of flying schools are difficult to come by.
Indian (formerly Indian Airlines) realised this after putting out advertisements a few months ago to fill up 239 vacancies of co-pilots. Although Indian officials claimed that over 100 applications were received, sources said the actual number was only 39. An Indian official said 31 of these candidates were recruited, attributing the high number of rejections to candidates not meeting the recruitment criteria. However, sources said only 20 candidates were offered jobs.
Airlines have so far bridged the gap in commanders by bringing in experienced pilots from abroad. But the death of co-pilots has added a new dimension to the problem. "Airlines would team up a foreign commander with an Indian co-pilot since at least one of the crew members must be Indian according to DGCA requirements," said an airline source.
20/05/06 Manju V/Times of India

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