No pilots? We146;ll train them, says AI

With pilots in India becoming a rare commodity, airlines are coming up with novel concepts to tide over the shortage. Air-India, for one, plans to recruit around 200 science and engineering graduates with almost no flying experience and turn them into pilots.

With pilots in India becoming a rare commodity, airlines are coming up with novel concepts to tide over the shortage.

Air-India, for one, plans to recruit around 200 science and engineering graduates with almost no flying experience and turn them into pilots. The airline has already started looking out for flying training schools in India and abroad which would provide Commercial Pilot License and other training to these recruits.

8216;8216;A-I is in the process of recruiting science and engineering graduates with zero flying background. We are also looking out at select Flying Training Institutes of repute to which these selected candidates will be directed to undergo training,8217;8217; a senior Air India official said.

The airline has already called for bids from interested institutes. The carrier is proposing to direct 150 to 200 such cadets in a batch of 50, to these institutes in India or abroad, for obtaining Commercial Pilot License with IR and Multi Engine Rating, as per the prescribed syllabus and the requirements of DGCA India.

Even though the cadet would have to pay his way through the CPL course, the airline plans to extend support in providing the selected cadet in obtaining an educational loan. Once the cadet gets his CPL, he will then be asked to complete the ground training and simulator training on B737-800 type to pre-qualify them for aircraft training and type endorsement. This portion of the training will be paid for by Air-India.

Meanwhile, the airline is also looking at hiring a professional recruitment agency to recruit these 150-200 science and engineering graduates who will be selected through an all-India written test.

Getting a CPL license is a costly proposition with training costing close to Rs 20 lakh. However, with the airline assuring financial help to the cadets it would lower their financial burden. Experts say that these cadets would have to sign a five- to seven-year bond with Air-India and the airline would recover the costs incurred on training the cadets from their salaries.

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A-I itself had plans to set up its own flight training school and has also bid for running the proposed National Flying Training School which the government plans to set up in Gondia, Maharashtra, which would help it in churning out a steady stream of high-quality pilots.

However, both the projects have not taken off yet.

The airline currently has around 550 pilots and will be needing an additional 100 pilots every year over the next seven years. This huge need of personnel is fuelled by the exponential growth in the Indian aviation market and the fleet augmentation exercise of the airline where it plans to add 68 new aircraft.