AI privatisation: 65 co-pilots quit in 2019

As the national carrier, Air India, prepares for privatisation, the airline has lost a considerable number of its young pilots to other Indian carriers. In 2019,

As the national carrier, Air India, prepares for privatisation, the airline has lost a considerable number of its young pilots to other Indian carriers. In 2019, 65 of Air India’s ‘co-pilots’, who were to be promoted to the post of ‘pilot in command’, quit the airline due to uncertainty over its future. Air India spokesperson was unavailable for comment.

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The government had first approved to privatise the airline in June 2017, however, it deferred its plan in May 2018, after it failed to get a buyer for the airline. Airline sources said it was due to this that there was no significant effect on pilots was observed in 2017 and 2018.

“There was uncertainty towards the airline privatisation in 2018, due to which only one pilot had quit in that year. However, it was only when the government commenced the privatisation process for a second time and issued the expression of interests (EoI), that the pilots started quitting in 2019,” said a senior airline pilot.

According to top officials in the know of the matter, first officers who resigned from the airline last year mostly operated from Delhi. Around 35 of the total 65 co-pilots were based out of Delhi and 16 of them operated from Mumbai. Remaining co-pilots who put down their resignation papers had their base stations at Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad airports.

A senior airline official said, “Less than 15 pilots- in- command have resigned, which clearly shows that majority of pilots who quit were flying as first officers for the national carrier.”

The airline has around 1,400 pilots among which around 700 are the Airbus A320 pilots. Sources said that most of the pilots who quit operated A320 aircraft and were due for promotion in the coming year.

Air India’s basic criteria for co-pilots to be eligible for a promotion is that they should complete 2,750 hours of flying and should also clear the mandatory pre- command assessment check (PCAC). Apart from this, Air India co-pilots are required to complete 38 months in the airline to be promoted as commanders. Explaining the reasons for co-pilots resignations, an ex-Air India pilot said, “The debt-ridden national carrier, since long, has not only failed to pay salaries on time but has also been unsuccessful in paying them their long-pending dues. Moreover, the future of the company is not clear as the government is keen to privatise the national carrier and is awaiting for the interested investors to bid for the airline.”