Women pilots flying Air India planes will no longer be a rare sight as the national carrier is on a recruitment spree, training more women to fly than ever before.

Women’s enrollment for flight training has more than doubled to 20 per cent this year from a meagre 5-7 per cent in the past.

Shivani Minhas, a trainee pilot hailing from Jammu and Kashmir, said that it has not been easy for aspiring women pilots to cope with the societal pressures.

Air India crew and pilots celebrating International Women’s Day. (A file photo).

“Spending Rs 50 lakh on a daughter is not a good payback deal. Especially if you are coming from a disturbed place like Jammu and Kashmir,” she said.

There are also issues of safety raised by families of these aspiring pilots.

“We have to travel a lot and, therefore, safety is an issue for us. When I thought of becoming a pilot, the first challenge came from my family members. There is also myth that no middle class family girl can become a pilot,” said Sharmeen Magra, trainee pilot.

Sharmeen Magra (left) and Abheepsa Gupta (right) have been trained to fly the national carrier Air India

According to the figures of the civil aviation ministry, out of the total 5,100 pilots in the country 600 are women, accounting to about 11.7 per cent of the total number.

While the fresh recruitment by Air India is way above the national average, the real challenge would be to ensure that there is no discrimination with regards to pay, promotion and pregnancy-related benefits that women pilots have complained of in the past.

Interestingly, the numbers in India are way above the global average for women pilots, which is a meagre three per cent.

Even the world’s lone superpower, the United States, has only seven per cent of women pilots in its commercial flights. (It is estimated that out of the 1.30 lakh trained commercial pilots across the world, a whopping 97 per cent are male.)

According to Captain N Sivaramakrishnan, General Manager (Ops-Training), Air India, women pilots are equally capable of flying an aircraft and in future, the ratio will increase as things have changed drastically in Air India.

“Don’t get surprised if you see more women pilots flying Air India planes. Soon, we will increase the number,” he told Mail Today, Sivaramkrishnan, a veteran instructor with two decades of experience, said he has never seen so many women in a batch as in the current one.

“The number of women trainees has never been so high. The batch of 2015-16 has 37 women pilots out of the total 192 recruited. Prior to the current batch, there had been only 145 women pilots in Air India,” said Captain Ramesh Sanil, Airbus instructor for Air India.

Meanwhile, Air India has seen an overhaul to the Central Training Establishment (CTE). For the first time in 10 years instructors have been recruited for the main training centre of Air India.

According to Air India officials, there was a tussle between CTE management and the Air India management over recruitment of instructors, as top brass used to claim that there is no need of hiring a fresh batch of trainers.

“This year we started the procedure of hiring ground and crew instructors. Since 2006, there was not even a single ground instructor hired, but recently Ashwani Lohani, CMD Air India, gave a green signal for the recruitment. Also, we have accelerated in-house training of flying instructors so that young pilots can get trained in the shortest possible period,” said an Air India official on the condition of anonymity.

Pilot shortage to let more women fly high

According to the experts in the aviation sector this would further increase the percentage of women pilots in India, which is currently pegged at 15 per cent of the total strength. Pictured-Shivani Minhas, trainee pilot from J&K

Women pilot aspirants will see a great opportunity in pursuing flying as a career with India and Asia-Pacific region facing shortage of commercial pilots.

According to the experts in the aviation sector this would further increase the percentage of women pilots in India, which is currently pegged at 15 per cent of the total strength of women pilots worldwide.

Civil Aviation Ministry has also announced opening new pilot training schools to overcome the shortage.

At present, Air India has 1,441 pilots, with 670 of them flying 66 A320 family aircraft.

Besides, another 70 pilots are under training. According to sources, there is a shortage of over 1,000 commercial pilots in the country.

To meet the shortage, the airlines are compelled to hire expat pilots by paying around 60 per cent more than what the Indian pilots get.

This has also resulted in disparity in pay particularly with women pilots.

At present there are 45 flying schools including the central government-run Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udan Academy in Uttar Pradesh.

The other 32 flying schools are owned by state governments and 12 by private companies.

According to International Civil Aviation Organisation, there will be a requirement of nearly 50,000 pilots worldwide till 2030 due to the growing air passengers and the aviation industry will have to train approximately 14,000 people annually to meet that need.

'We have to go on leave without pay'

It is tempting to read the Air India move to hire more women pilots as proof of gender empowerment. Sadly, the cheer ends there.

The relative prominence in numbers of women pilots mean precious little for most them at work place.

According to airline rules, once the pregnancy of a woman pilot or a cabin crew member is confirmed, they are grounded throughout the maternity period on medical grounds.

Women pilots allege that they are kept out of the cockpit even from the early days of pregnancy

Even after delivery they have to continue with their ground job as they are not allowed to fly immediately leading to allegations of gross reduction in salary to the tune of 45 to 50 per cent as their flying allowances are docked.

Women pilots, meanwhile, have petitioned the aviation regulator to resolve the issue.

They point out that while they are kept out of the cockpit even from the early days of pregnancy, their counterparts across the world are deemed fit for the job at least till the second trimester.

The discrepancy, according to them has a direct bearing on their pay and promotion vis-à-vis male pilots.

“Many woman pilots have to go on long periods of leave-without pay and some airlines force them to stay away for almost a year, making them lose not only flying allowances and pay, but also their seniority,” said a woman pilot, with a private airline on conditions of anonymity as she was not authorised to speak to the media.

“If a woman is called for a commander training course and if she can't attend it due to pregnancy, it's a long wait before her turn comes up again. It affects our career progression,” the pilot explained.

The situation is even worse for women pilots who wish to adopt a child.

“There is no clause for mothers who want to adopt. We don't get any benefits under the maternity scheme. Even if one goes on leave, it means loss of pay,” said a crew member of Air India.