Iver
16th Oct 2011, 04:06
This may be old news - I found it on the South Asian board and I find it hilarious. There may be some innacuracies in the writing according to the other board but probably still close to the truth. No big surprise: welcome to India!!!!!!!!!!!! Great case study in overt nepotism. Again, no surprise.
Wonder if Qatar and Etihad offer similar nepotism policies? I guess the Air India pilots who don't qualify for the 787 (like apparently their own 747-400 or A330 pilots) could jump to Qatar Airways in a year or two and maybe get the chance to actually fly the 787 one day...
Read the article below from the other board (actual article link at bottom):
Air India pilots scramble for Dreamliner take-off
MUMBAI: Going by the current plans, it is likely to enter Air India's (AI) fleet later this year but the Boeing (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Boeing) 787 Dreamliner has already caused many a heartbreak and unleashed a battle of sorts among the airline's pilots. The buzz doing the rounds is about the pilots being selected to fly the Dreamliner. If AI does not choose its pilots judiciously, the cash-strapped airline could end up losing about Rs 10 crore by way of training and retraining pilots for Dreamliner as well as other aircraft.
The civil aviation ministry is reconsidering AI's plan to buy 27 Dreamliners, but in the airline, the fight is on to fly the B787. Many pilots qualify to be selected for training on the B787. In the last few weeks though, many have realized that in a government-run airline like Air India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Air-India) apologies to George Orwell (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/George-Orwell) while all pilots are equal, some are more equal than others. "The top brass-chiefs, directors and anyone who can pilot an aircraft-has enlisted to train on the Boeing 787," said an airline source.
The first Boeing 787 training batch drawn up by the airline management comprises 56 commanders and 27 co-pilots. "The commander's list reads like the who's who in AI's top management. The co-pilot's list has sons and daughters of top brass," said the source. For instance: the co-pilot's list has a son and a daughter of two AI general managers; then there is the father-son pair, the father is the chief of a particular department in the airline.
But the real problem which will cause financial losses to the airline lies in the fact that baring two commanders, all the other pilots selected for the first B787 training batch are Boeing 777 pilots. The airline has ordered 31 Boeing 777s and the first of the brand new Boeing 777s entered AI's fleet in the year 2007. The airline spent approximately Rs 25 lakh per pilot to train on the Boeing 777 (as part of aircraft purchase contract, Boeing initially trains a few pilots for free, then Air India, it is the airline which foots the bill).
"Management pilots lined up to train on the B777 along with their sons and daughters. In the last four years, 132 commanders and 140 co-pilots have been trained to fly the B777," said the source. These pilots have not flown enough-also, top management pilots rarely fly-for the airline to recover their training costs. "But once these B777 pilots are trained on the B787, they cannot fly the B777. So the airline will have to train another fresh lot of pilots to fill the B777 vacancies they leave behind," the source added."When there are many A310 and B737 pilots whose training costs have been recovered and can be sent to train on the B787 Dreamliner, why is the airline sending freshly trained B777 pilots to train on the B787 and wasting the money they spent on their B777 training,'' the official wondered. "The losses on this account will be atleast Rs 10 crore. Also because we will be losing B777 instructors, examiners to B787, the airline has decided to outsource B777 training to a company in the US, though it has training infrastructure in Mumbai (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Mumbai),'' he adds.
To make themselves and their kin eligible and prevent other pilots from being selected for B787 training, the management has drawn up special criteria for B787 training. For instance: co-pilots have to be Airline Transport Pilot License holders (ATPL). An ATPL is a higher form of license than Commercial Pilot License (CPL) and it is mandatory only for commanders. "The co-pilots ATPL criteria has not been put by Boeing, it is Air India's decision.These sons and daughters of management pilots are ATPL holders and so they qualify,'' he added. Incidentally, even the VVIP flights operated by Air India which flies the President, Prime Minister do not ask for co-pilots with ATPL. Japan's All Nippon Airways (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/All-Nippon-Airways) (ANA) too has ordered Dreamliners and it has a huge fleet of B777 aircraft as well. "ANA has no such criteria that B777 pilots should be sent for Dreamliner training,'' said a pilot.
AI pilots scramble to train for Dream liner Scramble for B787 take-off to cost AI 10 cr.
See the actual article:
http://articles.timesofindia.indiati...ine-dreamliner (http://articles.timesofindia.indiati...ine-dreamliner/)
Wonder if Qatar and Etihad offer similar nepotism policies? I guess the Air India pilots who don't qualify for the 787 (like apparently their own 747-400 or A330 pilots) could jump to Qatar Airways in a year or two and maybe get the chance to actually fly the 787 one day...
Read the article below from the other board (actual article link at bottom):
Air India pilots scramble for Dreamliner take-off
MUMBAI: Going by the current plans, it is likely to enter Air India's (AI) fleet later this year but the Boeing (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Boeing) 787 Dreamliner has already caused many a heartbreak and unleashed a battle of sorts among the airline's pilots. The buzz doing the rounds is about the pilots being selected to fly the Dreamliner. If AI does not choose its pilots judiciously, the cash-strapped airline could end up losing about Rs 10 crore by way of training and retraining pilots for Dreamliner as well as other aircraft.
The civil aviation ministry is reconsidering AI's plan to buy 27 Dreamliners, but in the airline, the fight is on to fly the B787. Many pilots qualify to be selected for training on the B787. In the last few weeks though, many have realized that in a government-run airline like Air India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Air-India) apologies to George Orwell (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/George-Orwell) while all pilots are equal, some are more equal than others. "The top brass-chiefs, directors and anyone who can pilot an aircraft-has enlisted to train on the Boeing 787," said an airline source.
The first Boeing 787 training batch drawn up by the airline management comprises 56 commanders and 27 co-pilots. "The commander's list reads like the who's who in AI's top management. The co-pilot's list has sons and daughters of top brass," said the source. For instance: the co-pilot's list has a son and a daughter of two AI general managers; then there is the father-son pair, the father is the chief of a particular department in the airline.
But the real problem which will cause financial losses to the airline lies in the fact that baring two commanders, all the other pilots selected for the first B787 training batch are Boeing 777 pilots. The airline has ordered 31 Boeing 777s and the first of the brand new Boeing 777s entered AI's fleet in the year 2007. The airline spent approximately Rs 25 lakh per pilot to train on the Boeing 777 (as part of aircraft purchase contract, Boeing initially trains a few pilots for free, then Air India, it is the airline which foots the bill).
"Management pilots lined up to train on the B777 along with their sons and daughters. In the last four years, 132 commanders and 140 co-pilots have been trained to fly the B777," said the source. These pilots have not flown enough-also, top management pilots rarely fly-for the airline to recover their training costs. "But once these B777 pilots are trained on the B787, they cannot fly the B777. So the airline will have to train another fresh lot of pilots to fill the B777 vacancies they leave behind," the source added."When there are many A310 and B737 pilots whose training costs have been recovered and can be sent to train on the B787 Dreamliner, why is the airline sending freshly trained B777 pilots to train on the B787 and wasting the money they spent on their B777 training,'' the official wondered. "The losses on this account will be atleast Rs 10 crore. Also because we will be losing B777 instructors, examiners to B787, the airline has decided to outsource B777 training to a company in the US, though it has training infrastructure in Mumbai (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Mumbai),'' he adds.
To make themselves and their kin eligible and prevent other pilots from being selected for B787 training, the management has drawn up special criteria for B787 training. For instance: co-pilots have to be Airline Transport Pilot License holders (ATPL). An ATPL is a higher form of license than Commercial Pilot License (CPL) and it is mandatory only for commanders. "The co-pilots ATPL criteria has not been put by Boeing, it is Air India's decision.These sons and daughters of management pilots are ATPL holders and so they qualify,'' he added. Incidentally, even the VVIP flights operated by Air India which flies the President, Prime Minister do not ask for co-pilots with ATPL. Japan's All Nippon Airways (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/All-Nippon-Airways) (ANA) too has ordered Dreamliners and it has a huge fleet of B777 aircraft as well. "ANA has no such criteria that B777 pilots should be sent for Dreamliner training,'' said a pilot.
AI pilots scramble to train for Dream liner Scramble for B787 take-off to cost AI 10 cr.
See the actual article:
http://articles.timesofindia.indiati...ine-dreamliner (http://articles.timesofindia.indiati...ine-dreamliner/)