Airlines May Be Short of Pilots

Wednesday, 6th April 2011 at 04:43am

Airlines in India may need to hire up to 20% more pilots than they currently employ if the government goes ahead with the proposed new rules regarding duty hours. Government officials say they have sought feedback from airlines and the rules could be implemented as early as June.

The government is currently investigating an illegal scam that helped people acquire fake commercial pilot licenses. So far in 2011, at least seven such instances have been uncovered.

It has been reported that several expat pilots have failed India's stringent new medical norms for pilots that were introduced last year.

The new rules, known as Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), which deal with work and duty timings for airline pilots follow a year-long exercise that was fast-tracked after an Air India ExpressBoeing 737 crashed in Mangalore on 22 May, killing 158 people, the most in an air crash in the past decade.

Meanwhile, Budget airline SpiceJet has plans to recruit 150 pilots and 300 cabin crew to handle plans to connect smaller towns with metro cities in South India.

The airline announced its intent to tap the growing regional market with an order for 15 Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft in December last year. It is likely to choose Hyderabad as its base for regional operations in the beginning.

SpiceJet CEO, Neil Mills said: "We will recruit 150 pilots and 300 cabin crew for the regional airline. We will recruit chief of pilots and chief of engineering for the regional operations as the aircraft is new for the Indian aviation market. These positions will be filled in by the expats and we are in the process of finalising the names."

The new routes are likely to carry the feeder traffic for the onward journeys for international legacy carriers like British Airways.

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