How to land a high-flying job
Faced With Pilot Shortage, Jet Decides To Catch Them Early
Manju V | TNN
Mumbai: Thanks to the acute shortage of pilots in the country, one no longer needs a commercial pilot’s licence (CPL) to apply for a job. Jet Airways has kicked off a new scheme by inviting applications from students who have already cleared their ground training subjects and are currently being trained in flying institutes. No surprises for guessing that Jet is in the forefront of a trend with its new vacancy-filling tactics.
Taking note of the poor response to Indian Airlines’ call for applications from pilots a few months ago, Jet has evidently decided to book future CPL holders much before they enter the job market. Indian Airlines, which had called for applications from CPL holders to fill up 239 vacant posts for co-pilots, managed to fill up only 31 posts due to the pilot shortage. This despite the fact that a trainee\co-pilot takes home a pay cheque of Rs 1.5 lakh every month.
After a fleet-expansion spree last year, all airlines are battling pilot
shortages today. While the country’s airlines need about 1,000 pilots a year, only about 300 CPL holders enter the job market annually. To meet the shortage, the airlines bring in foreign pilots despite the fact that they have to be paid much more than their Indian counterparts.
In a determined bid to deal with the crunch, Jet decided to change its eligibility criteria for filling up vacant posts for co-pilots. The airline invited applications for the posts of trainee first officers for its Boeings and turbo propellers (ATRs) from holders of the CPL and ATPL (airline transport pilot’s licence) and also from students who had cleared the DGCA’s CPL (ground training) papers.
This in effect means that students who have a ten-hour or 100-hour flying experience and are training in flying clubs can line up for jobs as pilots in Jet Airways. However, a Jet source said preference would be given to students who were close to completing their 200 hours of flying—the minimum mandatory flying hours for earning a CPL.