NEW DELHI: The falling
rupee has made airlines act in an area where they have dragged their
feet for years - phasing out expat pilots. Low cost carrier SpiceJet has
brought down its number of expat pilots, all of whom are commanders,
from over 100 a year ago to just 25 now. With an expat commander getting
almost three times more than the average Indian commander's monthly pay
of Rs 5 lakh, the airline is looking at saving Rs 90 crore per annum.
Even
the remaining 25 expat commanders are set to be eased out by the end of
this calendar year. Airline sources said the expats are now only for
the Bombardier Q-400 aircraft, as being a new plane in India, there are
not enough desi pilots for it. "The Boeing 737 fleet is being operated
fully by Indian pilots for the past three months. We are now the only
airline in India whose mainstay fleet is operated only by Indian
pilots," said the source. Airlines spend more on expat pilots for mainly
three reasons: They have to be paid in dollars apart from being
provided with accommodation here and free return ticket to their home
countries every few months. "We were trying to phase out expats as per
the aviation regulator's guidelines but the rupee's fall made us
expedite the process. We did that by speeding up the training process of
our pilots," said sources.
All Indian airlines have a
significant number of expat pilots despite the fact that thousands of
commercial pilot license holders remain without a job even after
spending up to Rs 30 lakh for training.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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