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flyjet787
10th Feb 2010, 17:25
Turbulence ends, airlines begin hiring pilots, crew
10 Feb 2010, 0600 hrs IST, Anshul Dhamija, TNN

BANGALORE: After a year of turbulence, the aviation sector is now seeing a resurgence in hiring. Last year, during the peak of the downturn, the industry witnessed scenes of tears and mass protests by cabin crew personnel and pilots, as the sector went on a layoff spree.

But now, with passenger load factors having increased by 30% in the last quarter over the same quarter a year ago, and with further growth expected, some airlines, especially the low-cost carriers, are going in for an expansion. Moreover, airlines that had downsized their capacity last year are now thinking of adding capacity. This has opened up the job market, as some airlines have begun hiring pilots, co-pilots, cabin crew and engineers.

Industry analysts call this a ‘quiet resurgence in hiring’ as the aviation sector is still to fly out of the red. Besides, with foreign carriers poaching Indian talent, many vacancies have arisen that some airlines are trying to fill.

According to Kapil Kaul, CEO for the Indian Subcontinent and Middle East, at the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), hiring has been initiated by low-cost carriers like Spicejet, IndiGo and Go Air, as they have plans to add new aircraft and expand their services this year.

Between the three low-cost carriers, around 12-15 new aircraft would be added by the end of this year. A Spicejet official confirmed to TOI that the airline would be receiving 5 new aircraft this year and that the company had a hiring agenda . But he refused to give further details.

IATA, the international air transport association, in its latest quarterly business confidence survey of airline CFOs, states that though job cuts were still happening in the fourth quarter of 2009, for the first time since April 2008, a majority of CFOs now expect to increase or hold employment steady in the year ahead.

“We are extremely bullish on hiring pilots, co-pilots, and cabin crew, as we have aggressive plans to increase the network,” said M Thiagarajan, managing director, Paramount Airways. Paramount, the south-based full service carrier, currently operates around 72 flights a day. By the end of this calendar year it will increase its daily operations to around 120 flights, a growth of 67%.

A senior official of a full-service airline, who asked not to be named, told TOI that the airline was hiring in order to fill vacancies that had arisen due to high attrition. The attrition rate is pegged between 15% and 20%.

Kaul thinks that mass hiring, the kind that the Indian aviation sector had witnessed in its heydays, would happen post the third quarter of the next financial year.

Turbulence ends, airlines begin hiring pilots, crew- Jobs-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/Turbulence-ends-airlines-begin-hiring-pilots-crew/articleshow/5554383.cms)


Third quarter of the next financial year = Late 2011 ??

shanx
10th Feb 2010, 18:33
I can already picture several flight school owners in India and abroad copy pasting this news article link to their websites to lure in more budding "future Commanders" from India !!! :E


“We are extremely bullish on hiring pilots, co-pilots, and cabin crew, as we have aggressive plans to increase the network,” said M Thiagarajan, managing director, Paramount Airways. Paramount, the south-based full service carrier, currently operates around 72 flights a day. By the end of this calendar year it will increase its daily operations to around 120 flights, a growth of 67%.


B.S. !

thepotato232
10th Feb 2010, 19:10
If I may, a quick word to young pilots in India:

I've been meaning to say this for a while. You folks take an unnecessary amount of flak every time one of you shows up on a message board like this one asking about jobs for low timers. I think few people on this board understand the extent to which the country's prospective pilots have been sold on a fictional future. Aviation in India is so young, and it's managers so given to exaggeration, that there hardly exists a rational view of the industry's future. The constant promises of imminent hiring booms and pay raises that sound so tired and hollow to pilots elsewhere are still relatively new to you. The single best piece of advice I can give to beginning pilots (in India or anywhere else) is to relentlessly educate yourselves in all topics related to aviation. You will learn that, all around the world, there is a cottage industry that exists to propagate unrealistic views of the future of pilot labor, and profit from the resulting optimism. Not every projection of future hiring and salaries is false, but you need to be very careful when making life decisions based on such projections. You will be the ones to shape the future of your industry, and not everyone you speak to has your best interests at heart.

In short, hope for the best, plan for the worst.
Blue skies and tailwinds.

jimmygill
14th Feb 2010, 12:05
Very interesting linguistically.

The statement is being made in a 4th quarter of FY 2009-2010. The next financial must be after this financial year. so I will guess third quarter of next financial year would be Late 2010.

It is so in contrast with this situation,

Lets say on a Friday the 13th I make a statement

A) This Sunday I will go to the beach. => Sunday the 15th
B) Next Sunday I will go to the beach. => Sunday the 22nd
C) Next Friday I will go to the beach. => Friday the 20th (NOT 27th)

Do let me know if there is any other spin on this.



Mr Kaul, has few smart people working in his consultancy, and I am sure he must be having a good deal of data about Indian aviation.

But to take into point the cautionary note extended by Potato232, we are not sure about his interests being aligned with the job-seeker's.

I agree with Shanx, what Thiagarajan is saying is plain hyperbole. "Hey! Look my load factors are going up let me just go ahead and reduce them a bit."

For the USA, Bureau of Labor Statistics says:
Aircraft pilots and flight engineers are expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations. Regional airlines and low-cost carriers will present the best opportunities; pilots attempting to get jobs at the major airlines will face strong competition.

Though I have quoted it here, but am not sure how the BoLS fares in public opinion.