This is a topic I have been wanting to write about over the last few months. Indian aviation is witnessing its 3rd big boom.
- Most airlines have reported profits over the last few quarters
- Passenger growth is around 20% YoY , the highest in the world
India witnessed its first boom during the early 1990's when the government of India allowed private companies and foreign airlines to setup a scheduled airline in India. Back then we saw the birth of Jet Airways , Air Sahara, Modiluft , Damania , East West airlines etc.
Until the 1990's Indian pilots only had 2-3 airlines to choose as a career ( AI , IC or Vayudoot) and many pilots waited for years for their first job. The 1990's changed all that. And as with all booms many airlines wound up when asian financial crisis hit India by 1997. Only Jet Airways and Air Sahara survived.
It wasnt until early 2003 with rise of Air Deccan that we start to witness the beginning of the next boom. By 2004 many private companies start to apply for NOC for starting an airline and by 2005 we begin to witness the birth of new airlines like GoAir, SpiceJet, Kingfisher , Paramount , Air India Express.
An unknown company at the time calling itself IndiGo goes on to order 100 Airbus A320 the biggest aircraft order of its kind at the time. IndiGo starts operations by 2006.
This period i.e 2004 - early 2008 we witness the second boom. Indian aviation grew 40% and there was a huge pilot shortage. Many pilots who lost out on the last boom started to renew their licenses and found jobs with ease. Pilots were being offered jobs even before graduating flight schools. The Indian govt at the time reduced the number of hours needed to obtain CPL from 250 to 200.
Many Indians switched careers in order to pursue their childhood dreams of becoming a pilot.
This was the first time that Indian operators started the concept of cadet pilot programs. But one had to to pay for the entire cost of training to obtain the CPL unlike cadet pilot programs one sees in the west.
Spicejet started the practise and Kingfisher and IndiGo followed suit. Air India too started one at the time.
As with all booms this too turned into a bust. While Indian aviation boomed it was mostly a profitless boom. By early 2008 recruitments started to slow down and the oil price hike and the financial crisis of 2008 put an end to that boom.
By 2008 Kingfisher airlines merged with Air Deccan and had combined fleet of 80+ aircraft
This resulted in a large number of unemployed pilots many of which are still unemployed today. All the airlines ended their cadet programs. IndiGo too ended theirs but relaunched it in June 2011.
Things started to pick up slowly in early 2010 with a few vacancies here and there. It remained the same till 2014. Airlines like Kingfisher and Paramount shut down. The Kingfisher shut down affected the unemployment situation of pilots as 66 airplanes and the jobs associated with it disappeared overnight.
Naturally other airlines picked some of the experienced pilots from Kingfisher which further delayed employment opportunities.
Airlines like IndiGo continued to recruit and grow but not enough to make a dent in the large number of unemployed pilots.
Other airlines had some recruitments here and there but again in very small numbers.
2010 onwards also saw the average Indian CPL holder start doing type rating without job offers. Until then doing a type rating without a job offer was largely unheard of in Indian Aviation
The kingfisher crisis convinced the government of India to once again open up the skies to foreign airlines and we saw the likes of AirAsia and Vistara startup.
The year 2015 has proved itself to become a landmark year for Indian Aviation.
There has been a large number of vacancies in the year 2015. Here are most of them.
1. GoAir A320 rated ( Feb 2015 )
2. IndiGo CPL exam. 300+ candidates will be selected ( Feb 2015 )
3. Air India 320 rated ( April 2015)
4. IndiGo 320 rated (April 2015)
5. SpiceJet Internal exam for CPL ( May 2015 )
6. AirAsia 320 rated twice in the year 2015
7. Alliance Air ATR rated ( June 2015 )
8. GoAir 320 rated ( August 2015 )
9. Air India Express Campus Placement IGRUA ( August 2015)
10. Air India CPL exam ( October 2015)
11. SpiceJet CPL exam ( December 2015)
12. Jet Airways 737 rated ( December 2015)
12. Vistara 320 rated (December 2015)
13. Quikjet Cargo 737 rated exam
In between all these IndiGo conducted some internal exams and airlines like TruJet, AirPegasus and Blue Dart recruited CPL holders as well.
Pretty much everyone that had an AOP conducted some exam or the other. While the IndiGo is still conducting interviews they are due to finish the final interviews by April 2015.
As of 2016 we have 3 vacancies so far.
1. Jet Airways ads for 737 and turboprop rated.
2. Air India's massive vacancy for 320 rated ( around 534 vacancies). Air India wont be able to fill this vacancy as there are not that many type rated candidates available in the market. They will have to come soon for CPL holders as well.
3. Blue Dart exam for experienced pilots in Jan 2016
As you can see this is only the beginning.
IndiGo will have to come with another exam as they will need hundreds of pilots in order to man the huge aircraft numbers on order.
Air India should come with more vacancies as well since they are planning to expand both the 320 fleet and the regional fleet of Alliance Air as well.
Other airlines should be expanding as well so we should see lots of vacancies there as well
A few tips to my fellow pilots.
- If your licenses and medical are expiring or expired renew them as soon as possible
- If your RT is expiring do whats necessary to renew it as RT renewal can be much harder than CPL renewal.
- If you dont have a multi IR or 25 multi please get them at the earliest. Everytime an airline comes with a vacancy that needs multi IR I can see pilots running around at the last moment.
-Pass your ATPL papers.
- Get the ELP ( English Language Proficiency ) endorsed on the license if you haven't already done so.
- Start studying your books or keep revising the material. Competition is still going to be tough for jobs.
I wish everyone the best of luck
Here is to an exciting 2016
