Chennai: It was a dream come true for K Prakash (name changed) when he landed a job as a co-pilot with Jet Airways last year. He had started to repay the loan he had taken to fund his training abroad. However, when the airline failed to credit his salary on time this month, he was left in a quandary as he was unable to pay his EMI on time. The airline finally paid salaries on January 14.
Junior pilots, especially those working for Air India, are hit the hardest because they do not have adequate savings to continue to pay the instalments. AI junior pilots were paid their salary for November and performance-linked incentive (PLI) for August in January and that too after the pilots refused to report for work. AI also deducts training expenses from the pay of co-pilots. "Pilots are stressed out because of the delay in pay. Tempers flare in the cockpit; pilots do not concentrate during briefings and drop in for work reluctantly.
This is going to have a bearing on the safety of passengers. All they can think about is their loan repayments," said a senior pilot of Air India.
Most of the junior pilots, who work as co-pilots, have taken loans to study in flying schools in the US, Australia and India. A private pilot licence costs as much as Rs4 lakh while commercial pilot licence and additional flying lessons cost between Rs10 lakh and Rs20 lakh.
26/01/12 Times of India
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