expat pilots

With IndiGo’s operational collapse in December, Air India’s fatal crash in Ahmedabad and SpiceJet’s engineering and salary-payment issues, US aviation regulator FAA has once again become concerned about oversight standards in Indian aviation.

expat pilots cost nearly twice as much as their Indian counterparts as they have to be given accommodation and flight tickets to their home country every few weeks. Since Jet is now operating 35 of its once-upon-a-time fleet of 124 planes, the lender-led management has begun cutting this extra cost.

As war disrupts Iran, its airline pilots are heading out and some are now reaching Indian carriers. For airlines in India scrambling to hire over 1,500 pilots, this could be an unexpected answer

The falling rupee has made airlines act in an area where they have dragged their feet for years — phasing out expat pilots. Low cost carrier SpiceJet has brought down its number of expat pilots, all of whom are commanders, from over 100 a year ago to just 25 now.

Jet Airways has terminated the services of 30-35 expat pilots.

Caught between the demands of Indian carriers to extend the July 30 deadline for returning 600-odd expat pilots employed with them and the rising number of jobless desi co-pilots, the government may give a final extension of one year for sending back the foreigners.

Under pressure from its pilot unions, Air India is understood to have proposed a 10 per cent cut in the salaries of about 150 expat pilots currently on its rolls.

The National Aviators Guild, representing local pilots of Jet Airways, had earlier this month issued a directive to its members not to fly with expatriate commanders from May 1 after one of the foreign pilots allegedly assaulted a trainer in Bengaluru.

National Aviators’ Guild, union of Jet’s pilots, issued a directive to its members saying they are not to fly with the expats from May 1. Jet has about 100 expat and 860 Indians commanders for its mixed fleet of Boeing 737, 777; Airbus 330 and ATRs.

Indian carriers, that currently employ 1,000-odd expat pilots, have told DGCA that a majority of expats would be sent back by 2010.

Many young pilots in aviation sector are wondering why foreign pilots are being hired on higher salaries by the firms in deep financial trouble, leaving Indians in lurch.

Jet Airways has sacked the foreign pilot who allegedly assaulted a trainer during a simulator training session last month, an incident that triggered a call for boycott of all expat pilots in the private airline.

In a possible first, an expat pilot working with an Indian charter company has been barred from flying in the country for allegedly fudging his medical tests. Pilots need to be healthy - both physically and mentally - and require valid medical certificates to prove their fitness and operate flights.

Jet Airways is treating Indian pilots in a "step-motherly" manner compared to their expat counterparts on the rolls, pilots' body NAG today claimed.

The falling rupee has made airlines act in an area where they have dragged their feet for years - phasing out expat pilots.

At a time when the Naresh Goyal-led airline's Indian pilots are up in arms over higher salaries to their foreign co-workers, the DGCA has grounded an expat pilot from flying.

An expat pilot with Jet Airways has been accused of hurling "racist" comments and assaulting a woman besides abusing a physically challenged man on a domestic flight, prompting the airline to deroster him.

Mumbai, Apr 19 () Jet Airways is treating Indian pilots in a "step-motherly" manner compared to expats, pilots' body NAG said today even as the airline asserted that it has a strict and common code for employees.