The Hindu Business Line : ATR operations not hit by departure of pilots, says Jet

THE private sector Jet Airways has recently seen a flight of pilots operating the 64-seater ATR 42-500 aircraft but the company maintains that this had not affected normal operations.

A senior airline official, while confirming that some ATR pilots had left, said that their departure has in no way affected the normal operations of Jet Airways.

"All the pilots did not leave together. Besides, we have had people in training from earlier. This has ensured that the airline's ATR operations have remained completely unaffected despite the departure of some pilots," a senior airline officer said from Mumbai.

While the airline refused to specify the number of pilots who had left in the recent past, sources indicated that close to 20 pilots had left.

The airline has a fleet of 43 aircraft including eight ATR aircraft that are largely used to connect smaller cities with the metro cities. Among the sectors on which the ATR operates are Delhi-Baroda and Chennai-Madurai.

The airline operates over 260 flights a day to 44 destinations within the country and apart from operating to Sri Lanka and Nepal.

With the domestic aviation sector seeing a boom as more airlines start flying, there has been movement of personnel from one airline to another.

In the early 1990s when the sector was opened up for private sector participation, personnel including pilots from the State-owned Indian Airlines were wooed by the new start-ups. However, in the new situation personnel from one private airline are often wooed by another airline.

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