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Plagued by salary woes, Indian pilots have begun to look for greener pastures as leading carriers like Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and Air India struggle under heavy losses.
According to airline sources, foreign carriers are looking to tap the talent pool in India and hire pilots.
Leading carriers in India have been witnessing an exodus of pilots. Sources indicate that in the recent past nearly 40 pilots of Air India have quit, while about 60 have quit from Jet Airways. Kingfisher Airlines has seen about 50 pilots leaving.
Most of the pilots leaving the Indian carriers are said to be taking up employment with foreign airlines like Emirates and Silk Air. Hong Kong's flagship carrier Cathay Pacific is also looking to hire pilots in India.
Industry watchers say that pilots are very much in demand in a number of markets including China and West Asia. In the West Asian market, the demand has been aided by the huge number of aircraft orders placed by various airlines.
In November 2011, the Dubai-based Emirates placed an order for 50 Boeing 777-300 Extended Range with options for 20 777-300. The value of the order was more than $26 billion. Earlier the same year, the Malaysia-based low cost airline, Air Asia signed a deal with European aircraft manufacturer Airbus for 200 Airbus 320 NEO aircraft.
Pilots say they have no option but to leave as salaries are getting delayed for months on end. Air India had delayed salaries of pilots for over a year and around 18,000 employees of Jet and Kingfisher Airlines did not receive salaries for two months.
Pilots point out that striking work to get their demands met does not really help their cause as it only inconveniences the passengers and gives another tool for the Management to show the pilot fraternity in bad light.
“In the given circumstances the best thing to do is to leave and take up jobs in other countries, rather than wait indefinitely for a word on salary payments,” a senior pilot with a private airline said.
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