Have licence? Come and fly our planes

Facing an acute shortage of pilots, Jet Airways is forced to hire
foreigners, even as the Directorate
General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has set
a new deadline of July 2011 for all
airlines to phase out foreign pilots.
Airline sources say pilot shortage in Jet Airways has become serious to such
an extent that flights are being
delayed because of that, a claim
vehemently denied by the Jet Airways
management.
wo years ago, when the aviation sector was reeling under a downturn,
Jet Airways put all its expansion on
hold. Nearly 20 per cent of flights were
cut. Command training of first officers
too was stopped. But once the worst
of recession got over, the airline began adding new routes and
acquiring new planes. It has recently
acquired a Boeing 737 and the
process is on to induct more aircraft.
And hence, the shortage of trained
pilots. A Jet Airways commander said, “ Pilots are being pulled out from ground
training or simulator courses. Leaves
are being curtailed and pilots are
being asked to operate flights at a
short notice. Flights are being
delayed.” The shortage of commanders is on
Boeing 737s which flies on domestic
routes and Gulf and Airbus 330 which
flies international sectors.
An airline source said, “ On certain occasions, pilots have been asked to
operate an additional flight after
landing at the destination. At times,
pilots have a rest period of just two or
three hours between two assigned
flights but because of shortage, they have flown on an another sector in
that period.” Typically, a command training of first
officer, which includes training on
simulators and route checks
(proficiency check), takes six months.
It is learnt that Jet Airways has
shortlisted around ten first officers for command training and they will be
shortly sent for simulator training to
Dubai and Bangalore.