Air India facing a pilot shortage

Air India, the national carrier of India, has been facing a major challenge in recent times due to a pilot shortage that has resulted in long delays for its overseas flights. The airline has been forced to cancel several flights, affecting thousands of passengers, and it has been struggling to find a solution to this growing problem.

Air India has been facing increasing complaints from passengers about long delays in flights, especially ultra-long-haul flights like those to US destinations. The root cause of these inadvertent delays is an acute shortage of pilots appears as the most likely reason.

The pilot shortage is not a new issue for Air India. The airline has been grappling with this problem for some time now, and it has been a major impediment to its growth and profitability.

Pilot shortage most likely causing long delays in Air India's overseas flights.

The impact of the pilot shortage has been most acutely felt in Air India's overseas operations, where flights have been delayed or cancelled, leading to frustration and inconvenience for passengers.

Air India's fleet has increased sharply since the Tatas took over. Many of the grounded aircraft have been serviced and put back in the air. Air India signed lease agreements for 36 aircraft to augment its expansion plans, many of these planes are also being added to the fleet.

The airline needs 1,850 pilots to fly 114 aircraft. Air India currently has only about 1,600 pilots, and this shows a clear shortage in the required critical manpower.

While the capacity is being expanded, sources tell pilots and crew strength are not at par with aircraft addition.The airline currently has 114 aircraft of which 68 are narrow-body planes and 46 are wide-body planes including 19 Boeing 777s and 27 Boeing 787s. Each 777 requires 26 pilots and the 787 requires 20 pilots. So 46 wide-body planes need 1,034 pilots.

Adding these numbers tells us that the airline needs 1,850 pilots to fly 114 aircraft. But we learn that Air India currently has only about 1,600 pilots, and this shows a clear shortage in the required critical manpower.

The airline needs 1,850 pilots to fly 114 aircraft.

The pilot shortage at Air India is a reflection of a broader problem facing the aviation industry. The demand for pilots is expected to increase in the coming years as more airlines expand their operations, and the competition for talent is likely to intensify.

In conclusion, the pilot shortage at Air India is a significant challenge that is affecting the airline's operations and causing inconvenience to passengers. While the airline is taking steps to address the problem, a long-term solution will require the concerted efforts of the industry as a whole.

Only by addressing the underlying causes of the pilot shortage can the industry ensure a steady supply of qualified pilots and maintain the high standards of safety and efficiency that passengers expect.

Kuwait's Jazeera Airways is starting a budget airline in Saudi Arabia along with its partners in the kingdom.

In a statement on Tuesday, Jazeera Airways said the low-cost airline, to be based at the King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, is being established in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 economic transformation programme, which seeks to expand the tourism and aviation sector.

“Co-ordination is under way with the regulatory authorities in the kingdom to complete procedures to obtain the necessary licences in accordance with the applicable laws.”

Jazeera Airways said.

The announcement comes days after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the creation of new national airline, Riyadh Air, on Sunday.

Jazeera Airways, whose first flight was on October 30, 2005, posted a record annual profit for 2022.

Riyadh Air will be wholly owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has about USD 620 billion in assets under management and backs strategic sectors central to the kingdom's economic diversification plans.

Saudi Arabia's second national airline will connect the capital Riyadh to more than 100 destinations around the world by 2030, leveraging the country's strategic geographic location between Asia, Africa and Europe, the PIF said.

Riyadh Air is expected to contribute 75 billion Saudi riyals (USD 20 billion) to the country's non-oil gross domestic product growth and to create more than 200,000 direct and indirect jobs. Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars in developing its tourism industry and aims to position itself as a global transport and logistics hub that will attract tourists, diversify its economy and reduce its reliance on oil.

Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed last November announced that a new airport will be opened in Riyadh with six parallel runways and designed to accommodate up to 120 million travellers by 2030.

This strategy is backed by USD100 billion in investments from the government and private sector.

In January 2022, Jazeera airways board approved a USD 3.4 billion deal to buy 28 narrow-body aircraft from Airbus after signing a preliminary agreement at the Dubai Airshow in November 2021. The deal included 20 A320 Neos and eight A321 Neos.

Jazeera Airways currently operates a fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft with a two-class cabin, providing both business and economy services. It also runs cargo flights.

The airline operates 19 aircraft serving 59 destinations across the Middle East, Central and South Asia, Africa and Europe.

With inputs from thenationalnews.

In recent years, tensions between the United States and Russia have led to a series of tit-for-tat sanctions and restrictions. One area where this has had a significant impact is in the airline industry, with US airlines now facing a ban from Russian airspace. As a result, some US airlines are now looking to restrict their competitors in response.

The situation began in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine. The US and other Western countries responded with sanctions against Russia, including restrictions on the country's airline industry. In response, Russia banned certain US airlines from its airspace, including Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and American Airlines.

Effectively banned from the polar routes that save time and fuel between the United States and an array of destinations on the other side of the world, U.S. carriers say they are being forced into an aeronautical version of Twister to get passengers where they want to go without taking undue risks.

Because of the war in Ukraine, U.S. carriers have to take the long way on flights to and from Asia, giving an advantage to foreign rivals flying the same routes.

The ban has had a significant impact on these airlines' operations. They have had to reroute flights, resulting in longer flight times and increased costs. They have also lost out on potential revenue from passengers who want to travel to Russia or connect through Russian airports.

In response to the ban, some US airlines are now looking to restrict their competitors.

However, critics argue that this is just an attempt by Delta to limit competition and protect its market share. They argue that the US airline industry should be focused on improving its own competitiveness, rather than trying to restrict others.

The situation is complex, and there are valid arguments on both sides. On one hand, US airlines have been unfairly disadvantaged by the Russian airspace ban, and it is understandable that they would want to take action to protect their own interests. On the other hand, restricting competition is not the best way to improve the industry as a whole.

Ultimately, what is needed is a diplomatic solution to the tensions between the US and Russia. Until that happens, the airline industry will continue to suffer. Continued access to the shorter and more fuel-efficient routes that Russian airspace provides is giving carriers like Air India, Emirates and China Eastern Airlines an unfair advantage.

U.S. airlines for years had access to Russian airspace through a series of agreements with Moscow. In exchange for that access, they — and other foreign airlines — paid fees to the Russian government for air traffic control support that amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars per year, according to an airline official and an industry advocate.

But after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year prompted government officials in the United States, Britain, Canada and Europe to ban Russian aircraft from flying over their airspace, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia immediately prohibited the United States and other supporters of Ukraine, including Canada and much of Europe, from flying through his skies.

The London headquartered-Menzies Aviation on March 9 said it has tied-up with IT major Wipro to "transform" its air cargo management services.

The aviation company will use a new product, developed by Wipro, to "improve business efficiencies, employee experience, and customer service through increased automation", a release stated.

Wipro’s cargo handling product was designed using cloud-native technologies, it added, further noting that the product will result in increased transparency and real-time-tracking.

Menzies will be rolling out the Wipro product to five air cargo locations — Bucharest in Romania; Wellington, Christchurch, and Auckland in New Zealand; and Macau in China — by the end of 2023, with further plans to fully implement it across its global network by the end of 2024.

"Following a rigorous tender process for a new warehouse management system, we are excited to announce our partnership with Wipro to drive forward our global technology transformation and ambitious growth strategy," Robert Fordree, Executive Vice President Cargo, Menzies Aviation, said.

"Our teams will be able to utilise an operating system that is more aligned to the look and feel of everyday apps, and our customers will benefit from increased transparency of cargo status, use of automation to speed up processes and improved safety and security procedures,” Fordree added.

According to Omkar Nisal, Managing Director UK & Ireland, Wipro, the collaboration enables them to leverage the company’s extensive technological capabilities, along with Menzies’ vast cargo-handling experience, to "deliver a product that will help revolutionize the air-cargo industry".

Indian carriers will operate a total of 22,907 weekly domestic flights during the summer schedule starting from March 26. The number of flights to be operated is 4.4 per cent higher compared to 21,941 weekly flights operated in the winter schedule, according to aviation regulator DGCA. The summer schedule is from March 26 till October 28. As many as 11 airlines will be operating domestic services, with maximum weekly flights by IndiGo at 11,465. In the 2022 summer schedule, the airline's number of flights is 10,085 flights. Among the 11 airlines, Alliance Air, Air Asia, SpiceJet and Vistara will be operating fewer flights in the upcoming summer schedule compared to the 2022 winter schedule, which is from October 28, 2022 to March 25, 2023. SpiceJet will be flying only 2,240 weekly flights in the summer schedule. This is nearly 30 per cent lower than 3,193 weekly flights in the winter schedule. In a release on Friday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said 22,907 departures per week have been finalised to/from 110 airports for the summer schedule compared to 21,941 departures per week from 106 airports in the winter schedule 2022. "Out of these 110 airports, Jeypore, Cooch Behar, Hollongi, Jamshedpur, Pakyong and Mopa (Goa) are the new airports proposed by the scheduled airlines whereas operations from Ziro and Hindon airport are not proposed in the summer schedule 2023," the release said. Tata Group-owned Air India will operate 2,178 weekly flights, which will be 9.45 per cent more than 1,990 flights in the winter schedule. Its group airlines -- Vistara and AirAsia -- will be flying fewer flights compared to the winter schedule. While Vistara will be operating 1,856 weekly flights which will be 4.38 per cent lower as against the winter schedule number of 1,941, Air Asia will be flying a marginally lesser number of flights at 1,456. In the winter schedule, the number of weekly flights of Air Asia was at 1,462. No-frills carrier Go Air, now rebranded as Go First, will be operating 10.65 per cent more weekly flights at 1,538 in the summer schedule. Akasa Air will operate 751 weekly flights in the summer schedule. In the summer schedule, Alliance Air will be flying 14 per cent less weekly flights at 887. According to the release, Star Air and Fly Big will be operating a higher number of weekly flights in the summer schedule at 234 and 220, respectively. IndiaOne will be the new operator in the 2023 summer schedule and it will operate 82 weekly flights. After being significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, the country's aviation sector is on a strong recovery path and domestic air traffic has been on the rise in recent times.

Air India has offered a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to its staff, excluding pilots, cabin crew, and security staff. This is the second such offer since the takeover of the airline by the Tata Group in January 2022 and will remain in force till April 30.

The VRS offer will be available for permanent general cadre officers who have attained the age of 40 years or above and completed a minimum of five years of continuous service at the airline. Clerical and unskilled categories of employees who have completed a minimum of five years of continuous service at Air India will also be eligible to opt for VRS.

A communication, sent out to staff by Chief Human Resources officer S.D. Tripathi on Friday, March 17 said: "We had launched the first phase of VR in June 2022 and subsequently there has been a request from employees for extending the additional benefit of voluntary retirement to other permanent employees as well. In response to this, we are announcing phase II of voluntary retirement."

"The employees who apply for voluntary retirement from 17th March 2023 to 30th April 2023 will also be provided with an ex-gratia amount as a one-time benefit. Eligible employees who apply up to 31st March 2023 will receive INR 1 lakh over and above the ex-gratia amount," it added.

Air India CEO Campbell Wilson, in an internal communication, also informed about the voluntary retirement offer. He said that following last year's provision of voluntary retirement of permanent cabin crew, clerical and unskilled staff aged over 40, "many of us have asked whether there will be another round and whether it would be extended to other staff categories. Today, we're launching a second phase of voluntary retirement".

Sources said that nearly 2,100 employees meet the criteria to avail of the latest voluntary retirement offer. Air India's current workforce stands at nearly 11,000, which includes flying and non-flying staff.

In June 2022, the airline announced its first phase of voluntary retirement covering cabin crew, clerical and unskilled categories. At that time, around 1,500 staff members had opted for voluntary retirement offers which were 43% of about 4,200 eligible members. Last November, the airline allowed its cabin crew who had opted for voluntary retirement to extend their tenure until January amid a shortage of cabin crew.

Recently, Air India announced a mega order to purchase 470 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus to support its growth plans. It has already announced plans to lease 36 aircraft of which two B 777-200 LR have already joined the fleet. Following the deal, Air India plans to hire over 4,200 cabin crew trainees and 900 pilots in 2023 as the airline adds new aircraft and rapidly expands its domestic and international operations.

After 69 years as a government-owned enterprise, Air India and Air India Express were welcomed back into the Tata group in January 2022. The present management at Air India is driving the five-year transformation roadmap under the aegis of Vihaan.AI to establish itself as a world-class global airline with an Indian heart. The plan is aimed at putting Air India on a path of sustained growth, profitability and market leadership.