Pilots of cash-starved Kingfisher Airlines and Air India are finding solace in job openings that will emerge as domestic airlines look to replace 400 foreign pilots to reduce employee costs and meet a government directive to remove all expat pilots by end-2013.
?There is a shortage of ?pilot-in-command? in the country even though there are enough co-pilots,? said an IndiGo official on condition of anonymity. ?Our efforts are to train our own co-pilots by 2013 and also hire from the Indian market.?
Jet Airways, SpiceJet and IndiGo are most dependent on foreign pilots and the three airlines hire 91% of foreign pilots in India. The three airlines are also offering the most number of jobs for pilots of beleaguered domestic airlines Air India and Kingfisher.
As per media reports, Jet Airways has already planned to sack 72 expat pilots, giving an opportunity for Indian pilots looking to change jobs. ?Jet Airways has always inducted cockpit crew as much as possible, from amongst the Indian talent pool,? said a Jet Airways spokesperson. ?The deficit positions have naturally been filled in by expat pilots.?
?In 2012 alone, around 60 pilots quit Air India,? said a spokesperson for the Indian Pilots? Guild (IPG).
The IPG has been on a 16-day strike and have had close to 100 members sacked during the strike. ?We are confident of finding new employment opportunities. Local airlines are replacing the foreign pilots and there are options for us in SpiceJet and IndiGo.?
?Some of our senior pilots have gone abroad and to IndiGo, but co-pilots are still waiting for jobs,? said a Kingfisher Airlines pilot. ?But getting hired is not really a problem anymore for pilots with experience.?
Airlines are looking for experience staff. ?With the number of flying training schools and in-house programmes of airlines, there are anywhere between 2,000 and 3,000 unemployed and inexperienced pilots in the country,? said the Kingfisher pilot quoted above. ?They will face the problem as airlines want pilots with experience keeping in mind the 2013 deadline.?
The falling valuation of the rupee is also pushing airlines to replace the expat pilots. Not only do foreign pilots earn in dollars, but their salaries are also nearly twice that of their Indian colleagues.
?Foreign pilots are paid in dollars, so definitely it inflates the wage bill,? said a senior Air India official. ?But we have managed to bring down our expenses on pilots by nearly 40% since 2009-10 and by 2013 we will have a completely Indian flying crew.?
Air India had 201 foreign pilots in 2009-10 and by 2011-12, the number has come down to 21.
Consultants say Indian pilots should first look for jobs in the country, even though West Asian and South East Asian carriers expand rapidly.
?As soon as you start talking about Emirates or Singapore Airlines, the competition for getting jobs increases rapidly,? said Vikram Krishnan, partner at global aviation consultancy firm Oliver Wymann. Krishnan is based out of the Dubai office of the firm. ?There will be locals from that country as well as pilots from Europe and the US who will be fighting for that job. Only the best of the best gets selected and there?s very little room for negotiating salaries.?
