India - beware of the medium term...
Recently I had the pleasure of travelling SIN-BOM with Jet Airways. Having identified myself as QF crew, I was fortunate to receive visits in turn by both operating captains (a check captain was in the RHS due to FO shortages). Some interesting points to note:
1. At present there are around 6000 Indian student pilots at various institutions around the globe.
2. Indian operators will happily employ bare CPL holders so long as they have MECIR. Not even ATP subjects are prerequisites until the time comes for a command upgrade.
3. Command upgrades become available at 1000 hours time on type. As such individuals with a total time of 1200 hours are routinely becoming eligible for, and achieving, commands.
4. When the time comes that local pilots are sufficient to fill existing vacancies. expat pilots will be terminated...overnight. There is a precedent for this. In the early 90's there were many ex dispute guys crewing for startups in a newly de-regulated industry. They were terminated the day local labour sufficient to meet demand became available.
If you don't believe the lengths to which Indian pride extends, then simply you do not understand the extent to which Ghandian philosophy permeates through modern Indian. After 400 years of being resource raped by the British, the enduring symbol of independent India is the spinning wheel around which the national flag is based. What does this mean? It means the British harvested Indian cloth and transported it to England, manufactured it in Lancashire, and then sold it back at percentage profits of many thousands. Hence the Ghandi philosophical mantra - we will not depend upon anyone. We will spin our own cloth. If that doesn't convince you of India's determination to avoid foreign assistance at all costs, consider the governments response to post tsunami offers of aid: er, thanks, but no thanks. We can deal with it…
What does this mean today? Philosophically not much has changed since Ghandi. The Indians will use foreign resources only to the extent that they are a requirement to get the job done. As a pilot you will be tolerated for as long as your skills are deemed useful and you will be paid whatever it takes. However, you will never achieve long term employment. The existence of a young, highly educated population that undertakes schooling in an English medium will guarantee there will be no shortage of nationalist skills gathering to push you out of your job in the medium term.
If you go to India ensure you squeeze every last penny out of your employer. You may have a great time or you may end up hating it. Its that kind of place. But don't expect it to provide you with any sort of job security going forwards.
How do I know all this?
I am Indian.
FT.