There is an acute shortage of senior airline pilots and commanders in India. With new airlines and more aircraft coming in, the shortage is likely to keep getting more and more acute. Poaching among airlines has become a serious issue and many airlines have been asking the notice period for pilots to be raised to one year.
Industry veteran SHAKTI LUMBA, 66, is not known for mincing his words. The former Indian Airlines pilot who also headed Alliance Air (he spent 28 years with Indian airlines) for some time is a known fire-brand in the sector – a “man who always carried his resignation letter in his pocket”. After a long and controversial career with Indian Airlines and Alliance Air, Lumba worked with IndiGo for five years and was part of the start-up team for the airline.
In Lumba’s view, the growth of aviation in India going forward will be restricted by a severe shortage of senior pilots. He argues that the DGCA will be largely to blame for this as the organisation is caught in a time warp and is more a controlling agency than one that ensures safety and facilitates the sector. He also wants the directorate for flight inspection disbanded. Excerpts from a no-holds barred chat with Anjuli Bhargava. Edited excerpts:
Why do you think growth of aviation in India will be restricted by a severe shortage of pilots and why will the DGCA be to blame?
For any aviation policy to work, to my mind, the ministry of civil aviation, DGCA and airport policies have to be on the same page. In India, they are not.
In India, the story is of growth. Besides having more passengers, it also means having more skilled manpower. Airlines in India end up doing in-house training for almost all kinds of skilled personnel they require. There is no institute in India providing all the kinds of skilled manpower. My question is where are you going to get the manpower?
When you announced a new aviation policy, has anyone looked at what kind of manpower is needed to support this policy and what are the changes we require in regulation so that this policy moves smoothly.
DGCA needs total upgrading. It still doesn’t have a twitter account. Emails are on their personal account. Most of its work is still done on paper. Instead of being a safety regulator or facilitator, it is a controlling agency and a pretty stupid one at that.
18/12/16 Anjuli Bhargava/Business Standard
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Industry veteran SHAKTI LUMBA, 66, is not known for mincing his words. The former Indian Airlines pilot who also headed Alliance Air (he spent 28 years with Indian airlines) for some time is a known fire-brand in the sector – a “man who always carried his resignation letter in his pocket”. After a long and controversial career with Indian Airlines and Alliance Air, Lumba worked with IndiGo for five years and was part of the start-up team for the airline.
In Lumba’s view, the growth of aviation in India going forward will be restricted by a severe shortage of senior pilots. He argues that the DGCA will be largely to blame for this as the organisation is caught in a time warp and is more a controlling agency than one that ensures safety and facilitates the sector. He also wants the directorate for flight inspection disbanded. Excerpts from a no-holds barred chat with Anjuli Bhargava. Edited excerpts:
Why do you think growth of aviation in India will be restricted by a severe shortage of pilots and why will the DGCA be to blame?
For any aviation policy to work, to my mind, the ministry of civil aviation, DGCA and airport policies have to be on the same page. In India, they are not.
In India, the story is of growth. Besides having more passengers, it also means having more skilled manpower. Airlines in India end up doing in-house training for almost all kinds of skilled personnel they require. There is no institute in India providing all the kinds of skilled manpower. My question is where are you going to get the manpower?
When you announced a new aviation policy, has anyone looked at what kind of manpower is needed to support this policy and what are the changes we require in regulation so that this policy moves smoothly.
DGCA needs total upgrading. It still doesn’t have a twitter account. Emails are on their personal account. Most of its work is still done on paper. Instead of being a safety regulator or facilitator, it is a controlling agency and a pretty stupid one at that.
18/12/16 Anjuli Bhargava/Business Standard
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