Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Mar 17, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Mar 17, 2005 |
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Airlines Move to raise pilot retirement age welcomed Our Bureau
New Delhi , March 16 THE Government decision to raise the retirement age of professional pilots to 61 years has been welcomed by the civil aviation sector. "The idea is very good. There is no reason why pilots here should retire early when in several countries, including Malaysia, the retirement age is 65," the Managing Director of Air Deccan, Captain G.R. Gopinath, said. Echoing his sentiments, the Chief Operating Officer of the soon-to-be-launched Kingfisher Airlines, Mr Alex Wilcox, termed the latest move as a "positive development," but also hoped that the Indian Government would find other ways to increase the influx of pilots. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on March 15 notified that professional pilots would be allowed to fly up to the age of 61. Earlier, the rules stipulated that no person, holding a pilot licence who has turned 60 shall act as Pilot-In-Command or Co-Pilot of an aircraft engaged in scheduled air services or non-scheduled air transport operations. The latest decision should help airlines cut back on their salary cost especially as they were looking at employing foreign pilots to overcome the shortfall of commanders to man the aircraft. Officials of various private sector airlines felt that the move could see pilot salary costs come down by as much as 25-30 per cent, as the salary and other costs involved in employing foreign pilots were much higher. Industry watchers, however, felt that there were several other steps that could be taken to increase the number of pilots without lowering the safety standards.
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