Airline companies scout for flying talent in foreign skies

Mumbai: Airlines in India are not just increasingly flying international, but are also are scouting for expatriates to steer their airplanes to overcome the current shortage of trained pilots in the country.
Kingfisher Airlines, for instance, just concluded their interviews in Brazil and Venezuela and Jet Airways is not far behind either. It has advertised to hire pilots especially from the US. Kingfisher needs to add another 130 over the next one-year to its 70-strong roster now and Jet has a 25 per cent shortage in terms of pilot requirement.
Says Rubi Arya, head human resource, Kingfisher Airlines, “We are conducting roadshows across the globe to hire pilots. Recently, we received several applications in a roadshow held in Rio de Janeiro on July 20. We met able candidates in Caracas, Venezeula too on July 24.” Says Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, chief executive officer, Jet Airways, “We have over 550 pilots now and by 2008, we plan to have over 1,000.”
“On average, an expat will fetch a 30 per cent higher salary when compared to his domestic counterparts, which by itself is a whopping Rs 4.2 lakh per month,” says Arya. SpiceJet too has applications from pilots based in Europe and US for its fleet. An official from Air Deccan says, “Training pilots is a lengthy process with a low success rate in India. We have ordered wide bodies aircraft for which deliveries are due from next year.”
17/08/07 Shaheen Mansuri/Express TravelWorld