The Hindu Business Line : Anti-poaching move — Airlines agree on 4-month notice period for pilots

To prevent poaching of technical staff including pilots, the domestic airline industry has decided to insist on a four-month notice period for pilots wanting to quit one airline to join another.

The agreement was reached at a meeting held at the Ministry of Civil Aviation here on Tuesday.

The meeting was attended by the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India and Indian Airlines, the President of Air Sahara, the Chief Executive Officer of Jet Airways and senior officials of the soon-to-start SpiceJet and Kingfisher airline.

It was believed a four-month notice period was long enough for an airline to look for a replacement and ensure that its operations were not affected.

All airlines have agreed that they would take in pilots, engineers and other trained operational staff in numbers that did not upset the operations and schedules of other airlines. However, no agreement could be reached on what percentage of staff should be poached from another airline.

The issue came into the limelight recently when several airlines, including private and public carriers, began witnessing a large exodus of technical staff, including pilots. Late last month, Jet Airways saw close to 20 ATR pilots quitting.

The airlines have also agreed to share information on salary structure and discuss among themselves to bring about parity in salaries.

Sources said a cap on the emoluments of the pilots was also being considered and that airlines had agreed to keep the salaries and allowances given to pilots by Indian Airlines (the highest payer) as the maximum limit. It was also decided that Air India would convene the next meeting where other issues would be taken up.

Briefing newspersons after the meeting, the Secretary, Civil Aviation, Mr Ajay Prasad, said airlines have to agree on a code of behaviour, adding that this "seems to be the start of that process."

Meanwhile, there is to be a slight delay in the introduction of a Bill in Parliament for the creation of a regulator for the aviation sector. "The draft Bill is ready. But the inter-ministerial consultations and the Union Cabinet's nod are likely to take some more time. Therefore, it may not be possible to place the Bill before Parliament during the on-going session," the Secretary said.

Broadly, the proposed regulator will look at issues connected with airports, including determining tariffs. It will also supervise the performance standards at airports.

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