IndiGo plans to bid adieu to foreign pilots

New Delhi: Low-cost airline Indigo plans to phase out its employment of foreign pilots in the next few years, even as it plans to hire 100 cabin crew and up to 50 pilots in the near future.
The airline, which recently became the third largest in the country in terms of market share, also plans to increase its network to 20-21 cities and enhance frequencies on its existing routes in the next one year. It currently operates in 17 cities in the country.
” Gradually we will have only Indian pilots. It saves us manpower costs too to have only domestic pilots,” IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh told PTI.
The airline is currently conducting the exercise to have 30-50 pilots and 50 cabin crew on board in the next few days.
The new pilots are being hired for IndiGo’s operations in Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Jaipur. The airline currently has about 400 cabin crew.
The no-frill carrier has already reduced the number of expat pilots to about 55 from 96 in the beginning of last year. It has a total of 226 pilots at present.
11/01/09 PTI/The Hindu