Paramount runs short of pilots

Chennai: Paramount Airways is reportedly running short of pilots with at least a dozen of the foreign pilots, brought in to fly the Embraer aircraft for salaries higher than their Indian counterparts, leaving the company in recent times for various reasons.
While airport authority sources confirmed that the airline is facing a shortage of pilots, a top Paramount official claimed that the airline has 35 captains and about 65 first officers on its rolls.
But for an airline that operates to at least 12 destinations with a mandatory requirement of 25 captains, there are only 16 reporting for duty, airport sources said.
Insiders say the sudden dearth of pilots was due to huge exodus of foreign pilots, who had come from countries like Columbia, Kenya, Venezuela, and parts of America.
When the airline was launched, there were no Indians trained in flying the Brazilian-made aircraft and the company employed the foreigners for huge salaries _ captains draw Rs nine lakh per month for flying narrow body aircraft and Rs 11 lakh for wide body aircraft.
Subsequently, Indian pilots were trained and taken in as captains. In the case of first officers, 18 of them recently joined Paramount after coughing up Rs 25 lakh for their training.
But most of the first officers are yet to clear the exams conducted by DGCA to become captains.
21/03/09 Mamta Todi/ExpressBuzz