Crew shortage hits Air India Express

Nedumbassery: The Kochi-headquartered Air India Express is witnessing a ‘decline in its operations' in spite of the steady rise in passenger movement between Kerala and the Gulf.
“The critical shortage of operating crew has brought down the number of lines from 18 to somewhere around 14-15 at least during the past one year,” airline sources said.
The low-cost carrier had a fleet of 21 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, of which 18 were available for operation at any point of time.
There was a requirement of at least 126 commanders as against the current strength of 94 for the AIE to keep all its lines running, sources said. “To enable the optimum utilisation of these aircraft, the airline now requires at least six commanders per aircraft as against the current equation of just four pilots,” they held, adding that the refurbishment of cockpit resources will also augment the hours of operation for each aircraft by at least 90 minutes.
31/01/12 The Hindu

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Categories: Air India Budget Feb 2012