'Let co-pilots replace expats to make way for newbies'

New Delhi: There’s good news for thousands of unemployed commercial pilots in India.
Nasim Zaidi, chief of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), on Friday warned all Indian carriers to expedite conversion of co-pilots who are eligible to be converted into commanders. The idea: these commanders will then replace the highly-paid expats and also make way for hiring unemployed co-pilots.
‘‘We met all airlines on Friday and found that the number of expat pilots has fallen from nearly 1,000 this January to 578 by October-end. Airlines say they have approximately 150 to 200 co-pilots with 1,500 or more flying-hours experience. They are eligible to be converted into commanders and this process has to be expedited. A monthly review will be done of the actual progress on this front,’’ said Zaidi. He is said to have been moved by the plight of thousands of unemployed co-pilots whom airlines are giving the short shrift even as they retain foreign pilots on exorbitant salaries.
The DGCA also asked airlines to state how many expats they would require from next July, after which the process to hire foreign pilots would be made stringent. Airlines are learnt to have said they would need 250 expat pilots even then. Blue Dart, for instance, uses a Boeing 757 in India, which no desi pilot has been trained to fly yet.
14/11/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India