The civil aviation sector is facing a quandary regarding its pilots as it recovers from severe disruptions in air travel due to the pandemic.
While junior pilots have been waiting on the bench for the past two years with a letter of intent but without any pay, airlines are grappling with a shortage of captains who can fly large jetliners.
“There should be around 200 pilots who have IndiGo’s letter of intent. Most were hired by the airline before Covid, but are waiting to receive a call from the airline,” said an industry executive familiar with the matter.
There are also many junior pilots who were laid off by Gulf-based airlines and are yet to be either reinstated by those carriers or have been offered secure jobs from Indian airlines.
A bench in the aviation sector means the holding period before being allowed to fly. The country’s largest airline IndiGo did not respond to Mint’s queries. Queries sent to SpiceJet and Vistara also remained unanswered.
Industry watchers say the carrier hired many junior pilots in hopes of expanding the fleet and route, but still managed to complete its fleet, two years after the pandemic badly hit the air travel industry. The capacity remains to be utilized.
Ironically, there is a dearth of captains as a large number of them have retired and the juniors have not yet completed their training hours to become captains.
“First there is an oversupply of officers and a shortage of captains,” said Vishok Mansingh, chief executive officer of aviation leasing firm Vaman. Mansingh estimated a reduction of about 25%.
India produces 700-1,000 commercially licensed pilots annually and to become a captain, a junior pilot has to put in around 1,500 flying hours and pass certain tests.
“The aviation industry in India is recovering very rapidly and a balance of supply and demand will be achieved to bring pilots on deck in six to twelve months,” said Ashwini Acharya, Business Unit Head, CAE Simulation Training Center.
While passenger traffic in August is up about 52% compared to a year ago, it is still about 14% lower than the pre-pandemic levels seen in August 2019.
However, the high-yield international segment has shown a strong performance at around 2.6 million passengers in August, which is 32% higher than pre-Covid levels, Icra said in a recent note.
Meanwhile, IndiGo is finally set to restore the pre-Covid pay of its pilots by November. Others like SpiceJet and GoFirst are yet to announce any time for restoration of pre-Covid pay.
commercial pilot license holder 50 lakh- 1 crore on flying schools and related courses.
“Some pilots on the bench have no choice but to choose other airlines where they spend more money for their type ratings in line with the new employer’s protocol. Some are forced to take another loan,” said a pilot.
However, the entry of new airlines like Akasa Air and a revived Jet Airways and recruitment by Air India is set to make the market more competitive in terms of salaries.
Recent announcements of fleet expansion by most airlines and Akasa’s salary hike are expected to be followed by others.
devina.sengupta@livemint.com
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