Issues ultimatum to management to release all foreign pilots from duty

In its war against expatriate pilots, the National Aviator’s Guild (NAG), the trade union of Jet Airways pilots, has issued an ultimatum to the airline’s management to immediately release all foreign pilots from duty ‘keeping the safety of passengers in mind.’

Directive to trainers

The NAG, which has a membership of 991 Jet Airways pilots, has also issued a directive to all pilot trainers not to conduct training or checking of any expat pilot working in the airline from April 16, 2017.

Besides, co-pilot members have been directed not to fly with expats from May 1, 2017.

The NAG, set up in 2009, conducted a hugely successful strike which grounded the airline’s entire fleet for five days, is up in arms against the over 100 expat pilots who draw a higher salary than their Indian counterparts besides enjoying other privileges. Jet Airways employs over 1,400 pilots.

Most of the expatriates are commanders. Those flying Boeing 777 aircraft draw a tax-free, take home salary of ₹8 -9 lakh per month compared to around ₹6 lakh paid to Indian commanders.

Unless the issue is resolved immediately, the NAG decision is expected to impact Jet Airways flight operations from next month.

Several recent incidents involving expat pilots have given ammunition to NAG to harden its stance.

In a letter to its members, NAG said, “We had a case of an expat threatening a senior examiner. An expat was inexcusably rude to a physically challenged passenger on-board one of our flights and yet another one where an expat was openly racist and had no qualms in expressing his racism; there has been little action [on these incidents] from the company.”

“The safety of our passengers and pilots is of prime importance and these kinds of issues cannot be tolerated at all,” the letter said.

Stating that expats were a huge drain on the company's and the nation’s finances with their ‘extravagant salaries’ and five star accommodation, NAG said the expats are being provided with preferential treatment including confirmed tickets on their block offs.

“They are paid full salaries while they sit idle for months waiting for their FATA clearance and even the company bears their tax liability,” a NAG member said.

NAG said despite several representations, the management is still hiring expat pilots for last 15 years even though India has no dearth of talent.

“There are enough and many CPL holders sitting idle, waiting endlessly, for years to get a decent job. Having expat pilots on the rolls makes no sense. They look down upon the very people on whom they are dependent for their livelihood and often make it obvious. They are hugely expensive and hurt the interests of the nation by usurping jobs that would have otherwise been occupied by Indians,” NAG said.

It said all expats who have had issues must be summarily dismissed with immediate effect and the rest must be released immediately because management has had more than enough time to replace the expats with Indian National pilots, NAG letter added.

Jet Airways spokesperson in a statement said, "Jet Airways is an equal opportunities employer. It employs human capital which is diverse in race, gender, caste, creed or religion."

"As an Indian airline operating internationally, Jet Airways has always focused on recruiting the brightest talent and today, has best-in-class cockpit crew from around the world, including a limited (marginal) percentage of expatriate pilots.Jet Airways is committed to offer equal opportunities to all pilots and follows a structured plan for their recruitment based on business outlook," the spokesperson added.