India: Land of Opportunity...OR IS IT???
The grass always looks greener on the other side!
Here are a few points that I have put together for those wishing to pursue a new hire F/O job in India (assuming you have the right to work in this country)
1. If one holds a foreign licence, that licence will have to be converted to an Indian DGCA licence...and what a nightmare of a conversion it is! Red tape, archaic beauraucracy, corruption and total inefficiency plagues the Indian DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation). It takes about 6 months (sometimes more) to convert that licence!
2. After the conversion, be prepared to sign either a huge training bond, a bank guarantee or furnish the amount yourself under the pretence of "training costs". These bonds or bank guarantees can last close to 7 or 10 years! And if you decide to pay it all at once, the amount can be as much as 26 lakhs (1 lakh = 100000 Rupees and 1 US $ = approx 45 Rupees). As you might have rightly figured out, there hardly is a need for a bond when one so willingly pays the whole amount up front!
3. On top of, say for example a bank guarantee, most airlines WILL deduct thousands of dollars over a period of time from your monthly salary to cover "training costs". For example, one operator, requires you to provide a bank guarantee for 7.5 lakhs for a period of 7 years. This amount is given back to you after those 7 years...which is fine. After all, an airline needs to have some assurance that you will stay, especially in India. But on top of that bank guarantee or bond or whatever you would like to call it, this airline deducts an additional 7.5 lakhs, during your commitment, from your salary!
4. Prepare to work like a slave. The current shortage of pilots does not help the situation any further. Combined with the Indian work ethic (or more aptly the required work ethic!) and the dilemma for pilots, putting in 6 days a week is common. One poor fellow commented on how his company asked him to change base on a day's notice!
5. Forget about getting in on merit. Money talks in India!
6. Good CRM is practiced in only a few companies. So as to not be mistaken, I shall say it again...GOOD CRM, not just CRM! And arguably so...kinda tricky, not impossible, to have good CRM when the FO has 250 hours (most of it in a Cessna 172) and the Captain has 6000!
6. Yes, once all the training is completed, and you occupy the right seat as a regular FO, your pay is fairly substantial (once again, depends on who you talk to!). It needs to be, especially after borrowing loans or tying up money in bank gurantees towards those training costs!
The information provided is not a fabrication but rather actual information gathered from interacting with fellow pilots in India. It merely provides an insight as to the practices of the Indian aviation industry. In other words, some food for thought, especially for those looking at India as heaven on earth!
All the best!
Aero