340 expat pilots are
still employed with various airlines in the country of which largest
number is with Jet Airways, Lok Sabha was informed today.
"Total
number of foreign pilots employed with various airlines has come down
from 526 last year to 340 present, of which 93 are employed with Jet
Airways. 63 are employed with SpiceJet, 56 with Indigo, 21 with Air
India, nine with Alliance Air -- a subsidiary of Air India, eight with
Blue Dart and 90 with non scheduled operators," K C Venugopal, Minister
of State for Civil Aviation, said.
He said there is shortage of
type-rated Commanders in the country due to growth in aviation industry
and induction of new aircraft in the fleet of the airlines.
"However,
adequate number of co-pilots were available and employed with the
airlines. These co-pilots do not possess sufficient training and
experience as required to become commander on that type of aircraft," he
said in reply to a written question in the Lok Sabha.
The
government has allowed issue of Foreign Aircrew Temporary Authorisation
to hire expat pilots till December 31, 2013, he added.
In reply
to a separate question, Venugopal said his ministry has not received any
formal proposal from the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL)
and Kerala Government for starting 'Air Kerala'.
The government
of Kerala has informed that CIAL had worked out a project for starting
Air Kerala airline as its subsidiary. It has also been informed that
proposed airlines requires two exemptions for operationalisation:
exemption from condition of ownership of 20 aircraft and exemption from
condition of five years experience of domestic flying, he said.
While
replying to separate question on number of daily flights being operated
from major metros, he said Delhi airport handles around 779 flights
daily while Mumbai 665, Chennai 322, Bangalore 285, Kolkata 263,
Hyderabad 250, Ahmedabad 105.
Source: http://www.indianexpress.com
No comments:
Post a Comment