Airlines may get reprieve in expat pilot phase-out

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.
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).
19/11/09 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

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Categories: Foreign Nov 2009, Indian Aviation- In General Nov 2009