Best Airline in India

[aerogull]

Hey folks!

Given the huge boom in aviation in India, I am curious to know where all the airlines stand in terms of employment/work conditions. Which are the best ones to work for and which are the worst...everything from passenger to cargo.

1.
2.
3.
4.
....etc...you get the idea.

Contribute away. Lets have a list beginning with the one(s) you know is/are the BEST TO WORK FOR AS A PILOT and work your way down to the worst.

Thanks
aero

[tomcat21]

So far Sahara has been pretty good. The pay is low but the equipment is good and the people are friendly.

[Left Wing]

Jet Airways & Kingfisher will emerge as market leaders in the next 2 years, both are good employers and good pay!

[freaktrimmer]

Without a doubt, the number 1 private Airline is Jet Airways .. also the most professional ...
cheers,

FT

[Joe le Taxi]

- excellent service in the cabin too

[A330AV8R]

In terms of being professional and pro pilot !

1 ) Jet Airways

2 ) Kingfisher

3) Indian Airlines

4 ) Air Deccan

5) Air Sahara

Dunno about the others cause no exposure there !!

:ok:

[Hairy Chest]

Tony Blair just did the sale of 43 airbus for IC, are they all A320? Will Alliance Air get some of them as well?

Where are the pilots to fly all these a/c. Where are the ATC's to controll them? What about Mx?

Heard Airbus will open a flt sim training center in BLR?

[rsoman]

20 A319, 19 A321s and 4 A320s. Some of the A319s will go to Alliance Air whose 737-200 antiques will be finally retired from passenger traffic.

The Alliance 319s will mostly be basd in CCU. The 321s are likely to be spread equally between BOM and DEL and some to other stations like MAA ,BLR and HYD.

All powered by CFM powerplants.

[fullforward]

And as for Air India, how they are regarded?

[Young_Turk]

my personal rating

1) Jet & Sahara (joint 1st)

2) Indian Airlines (good ol' beetlenut chewing/spitting babus)
you fly good/bad/or just drive the bus the way you like it, no one gives 2 hoots about it !!! joining salary is peanuts.

3) Spicejet (great pay, good hardworking bosses)
dynamic team heading a couple of good pilots. dont know how the new caps will fly. li'll iffy on how long they plan to keep it running though.

4) Kingfisher ( only ex IAF pilots dare go there)
pretty dames yes, but its the faujis (IAF pilots) who rule. dogs and civilians not allowed.

5) Deccan (true, low cost menace!)

6) Air India (welcome to the jungle!!)
earn money for wifee kids and future gens, while you waste away your life in aircraft bunks, and crew transport!

my rationale for Jet and Sahara joint 1st.....
Okay. jet is professional, organsied and has good plans for the future. but for a co pilot, the fastest way to the left seat is to be in sahara and work hard and get the ATPL and the company sends you to CAA for command training, and ready to fly P1. Sahara pilots know the limitations of the aircraft and dont try and stretch them, thats why except for the fatal 732 crash good 12 years back (during trg), they have a better incident record than jet airways. Jet pilots are considered "too hot to handle" cuz they take a bit "too much pride" in the training they recieve.
as for stability, anyone in india knows the cash coffers of the Sahara Group. so salary does arrive there on the 1st of every month.

a few foreigners roped in from United to set things straight in Sahara. and looks like they are beginning to look promising.

[rsoman]

Sahara have a better incident record than jet airways.
********

Agreed , but then dont forget that may be except for the last couple of years, Jet's fleet strength and subsequently aircraft movements have been always 4 to 5 times more than Sahara. Even now I think the ratio is 50 vs 20 or something close to that! Towards the end of the 90s, Sahara was strugggling to have just abt 3 a/c (the bare minimum to retain scheduled status at that time!).

By the way what was the reason for the nose wheel collapse at GOI recently on that CRJ ferry flight?

[tomcat21]

We had about 15 pilots goto Spicejet and all came back. Have heard nothing good about Spice or AIE. Things are pretty good here at Sahara. Not the highest pay by any means but not the hardest job either. They brought in the VIP of flt. ops at United here so we shall see what happens.

[Left Wing]

Young_Turk, "CAA for command training" whats that ! any help mate?:confused: thks

[Young_Turk]

Sahara has loads of p1/p2/CP/Instr training going on plus the recurrent training requirements, so all eligible p2s are being shipped to Luton, UK for "wet P1 training" programs with Alteon (ex FSBT). so wat you have is brit instructors from RyanAir/BA/Easyjet/Freelance chaps training Sahara pilots for command. New trend is that the check too is done by Brit Examiners (and try and impress the Stiff Upper Lips !!! its a tough task!) so in the end pilots learn little pointers from the CAA perspective as well, along with doing the good ol' DEEGEECEEAAAYE stuff.

Cant say its the right thing or wrong but it sure sorts out the training hassles for sahara right now.

[aerogull]

Good replies! Keep 'em coming!

What about the corporate sector in India? Are they pretty stable in terms of maintaining an aviation department or are they losing a lot of their pilots to the airlines?

Cheers
aero

[Hairy Chest]

Other than TATA, Reliance & UB Group all the corp aircrafts are grounded, pilots have moved to airlines.

The pay scales very low in corp, a few good perks thats all. Cant say no to an A320 and a US$ 2000 hike in pay can you.

[tomcat21]

Hairy CHest, just curious I have a buddy thats taking a job flying a Hawker in Mumbai and I saw one flying out of Delhi. Are you saying they are really short as I saw the hawker flying a few days ago when I was taxiing in.

[JunkBus]

Ther are plenty of jobs in the corporate sector , heard that there are a few biz jets which need crew , and they are taking on expats.

[Kaptin M]

Which one is WILLING to pay MARKET RATES for quality crew?
After all, they charge MARKET RATES for their
(i) tickets;
(ii) aircraft purchase/hire prices;
(iii) insurance;
(iv) fuel;
(v) management.

WHY do they think they can skimp on pilots' salaries??
:uhoh: ........maybe it's because of US!!

Suckers R' US !

[aerogull]

Forgive me for not knowing, but how would one approach a corporate flight department in India regarding jobs for pilots. Airlines , for example, have addresses which you can send resumes to but what about TATA, the UB Group etc. Where and who do you send your resumes to....do you send it to the comapny's general mailing address? Maybe, even calling up the company to find out?....I wonder if the person answering the phone would even know if they had such a thing as a corporate flight department!

Anyway, thanks for the replies and information....very much appreciated.

aero

[aerogull]

Anyone know what the pay is like (figures please) at Taj Air (Falcon 2000), UB, TATA etc. in India for first officers? Do they only hire type rated or jet experienced pilots?

aero

[Left Wing]

mostly retd. air force pilots make the bulk of corp pilots hence they come cheap. approx US$ 2000 for FO.
UB is the only ops that has xpats on the VIP 727-200.

[jumpdrive]

well i think in most of the cases the main concern is the money you get for the amount of time you invested to make it!, next, the schedulle, subs'ly the off day's you get to enjoy the nice place, that's very important
a lot of people I know fly like a homming bird in jetair! in deccan is almost the opp, and so on
next will come the benefits, like insurance, loss of licence, tickets for the family, the milkman, blablabla
and the last, but not at all, is your capability, chances or luck to upgrade in equipment, or to jump to the left seat!!!!
c ya

[Vimd23]

Hey left wing , just a note , the pay difference for F/O between Jet and Kingfisher is substantial. Jet pays much better in all aspects. Kingfisher take home is in the order of below Rs80,000/-- per month and at the moment they are finding their feet.

cheers
vimd23

[DesiPilot]

VIMD23,

Jet airways also makes you pay for the type rating and deduct the cost out of your salaray whereas Kingfisher doesnt charge for type rating (just post dated checks in case you leave before 4 years).

I am sure that makes a substantial difference as well when they type rating can cost upwards of $40,000.

- Jatin

[chullan]

juz a lil doubt from a wannabe....
does any of these accepts cadets

[freaktrimmer]

nah .. wannabe pilots back in india are not as lucky as their counterparts in Singapore ...
the cadet pilot system is non-existent in India ... so apply to UR SIA ...

[aerogull]

How is Spicejet doing these days?

As someone mentioned before, they seem to have a good management team...is that making a difference in the way they operate?

Any comments.......

aero

[Vimd23]

Desipilot , the going deal in Jet in 7,50,000 /-- cash and the remainder 7.5 in Post dated cheques. They dont cut anything from your salary.

cheers
vimd

[jetsreams]

The word "best" is subjective.

There are two types of emoluments.A)Financial B) Emotional

Jet and others might be great in the A) department but consider this....

A colleague of mine in Air India was medically grounded after being diagnosed with blood cancer.The airline spent $4000 a month for two years on his treatment,flew in medicines from the USA and today the guy is fully cured and completing command training.The airline also gave him a ground job and temporary loss of licence compensation for those years.

Nothing in the world can beat the welfare benefits of Air India for those who are down and out. Jet,Sahara, Kingfisher etc may pay you well under normal circumstances but consider the day when it rains.....

[Airbus_a321]

any informations about a new airline in INDIA called

"GO" :confused:

[rsoman]

Hey Jetsreams

Nice to read a balanced perspective about an airline like Air India.

By the way I did hear that Air Sahara took care of their staff well when during a few years ago, they ran into problems and had to return many of their aircraft to lessors barely managing to retain their scheduled status.

[AnQrKa]

Young Turk or anybody,

Would Kingfisher take FO time only into command slot or if not, how long to upgrade from FO to command.

8000 TT. 5000 A320 RHS. 1000 A330 RHS. 1500 turboprop command time.

Also, does sahara require a 737 type rating to join.

Any info appreciated.

[jumpdrive]

just contact them
go web or phone
they will tell U
all the best

[Airbus_a321]

any detailed informations from ppruners about

GO AIR - The People's Airline

beside www.goair.in , of course

tks:ok:

[Hairy Chest]

pls guys, do some research! NO FO JOBS IN INDIA FOR EXPATS! end of story........ its the law.

PIC Type rated with min 5000 tt is the std requirments for Capts only jobs on A320, 737NG, ATR 72.

If have this you will get a job asap, you need to bargain to get your self the best deal.
:ok: