New Delhi:
Indian Airlines pilots are opposing the recruitment of fresh pilots in Air India. The company wants to induct around 100 new pilots while Indian Airlines pilots say this is criminal considering the company is going through a financial crisis and the fact that the current strength of pilots is under utilised.
The Maharaja is running losses of over 12,600 crore and salaries of 32,000 employees for the month of March have yet to be paid.
In spite of this, the national carrier is in the process of hiring 100 new pilots, which will add to its burden.
These pilots will be hired and trained to fly its Beoing 777s and the new 787s. All this while its existing pilots are already under utilised.
In a letter to the Air India management, the Indian Airlines pilots' union has opposed the new hires arguing that they are stipulated to fly 90 hours but are currently flying between 40 and 60 hours. So, instead of recruiting fresh pilots, existing ones should be redeployed.
But therein lays Air India's conundrum. The new pilots will be flying for Air India and not Indian Airlines and the entry of Indian Airlines pilots into its international domain is being stiffly opposed by Air India's existing pilots.
Air India sources say that the Indian Airlines pilots are trained on Airbus aircraft while Air India's fleet consists of Beoing and moving from one fleet of aircraft to the other is not that easy.
However, Indian Airlines pilots are unwilling to back down and are even threatening legal action.