Indian Airlines lobby regulator over Pilot Jobs

Indian airlines have begun lobbying their aviation regulator to allow them to clearance to fill pilot jobs with foreign employees, or else face a dearth of skilled aviation staff.

Executives from top domestic Indian airlines, including Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and Air India, met last week with Nasim Zaidi, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, to seek a blanker five-year clearance to employ foreign pilots.

The executives said the move was gaining in urgency, as they are preparing for a collective expansion of fleet strength by one third, to cope with the anticipated boom in passenger air traffic.

One of the officials said, "It's not just a requirement from a (flying) skills perspective, but from a safety perspective. If we don't have a Fata (foreign aircrew temporary authorization), which is globally allowed for five years or more, in the long-term you will not attract the best pilots."

India's airlines are expected to add 150 aircraft to their fleets before 2015, on top of the estimated 400 they currently run. The move would create more than 1,500 pilot jobs. The airlines are predicting that the accelerated economic growth in India will create a surge in passenger traffic - which has already seen a growth of 20 per cent year-on-year so far in 2010 alone.

The airline's lobbying follows the regulator's decree to phase out the 600 foreigner pilots currently employed in India - in a total pilot headcount of 4,000 - by July next year to create jobs.


Ryanair threatens job withdrawal from France

Ryanair has threatened to withdraw 120 aviation jobs from its Marseille base if the French government's investigation into the company's suspected flouting of labour laws continues.

The French authorities are undertaking an investigation into the company following claims that it has employed the Marseilles staff on Irish work contracts. The formal inquiry by magistrates in Aix-en-Provence follows the successful prosecution of easyJet and its Spanish rival, Vueling, after similar allegations.

One source in the French judiciary said the formal accusations are that Ryanair used clandestine workers, unlawfully filled cabin crew jobs and prevented the formation of workplace standards committees, as well as preventing unions from exercising their rights.

The Irish-based company could face a maximum fine of €225,000 if found guilty, but damages and compensation payments could lead to a far higher penalty. The company could be liable to pay retroactive social security charges for all its employees in Marseilles, going back to the launch of its base at the city's airport in 2006.

The carrier has responded to the suit with its own threats, including that it would close the $300 million Marseilles operation, which accounts for one fifth of the airport's operations. The has alarmed local politicians, but some have said it is "disgusting" that a company should try to use such threats to circumvent the law.


Obama decision threatens potential UK aviation jobs

An aerospace project in East Lancashire that would draw £35 million of investment as well as 100 aircraft jobs to the area could be in jeopardy if US President Barack Obama calls a halt to funding behind the project.

The initiative would see the manufacture of components of the new F136 jet engine at the Barnoldswick aviation plant, in a joint operation between US conglomerate GE and Rolls-Royce.

The plan for the engine was to have it made both by the GE-Rolls-Royce partnership and by American firm Pratt and Whitney. Aviation bosses said the theory behind this would be that two competing engines would reduce costs and improve efficiencies.

President Obama has, however, expressed reluctance to offer crucial government funding to the GE-Rolls-Royce project as he struggles to balance the US economy as it makes steady but slow progress on its way out of recession. The F136 would power the world-leading F-35 Lightning II aircraft.

Local MP for Burnley, Gordon Birtwistle, said the development was crucial for the area and for the continuing need to develop military aviation.

He said: “I hope that the European Union, in collaboration with all the aerospace companies, is starting to consider the next combat plane that will have to be developed after Eurofighter finishes."


South Africa wants more black African pilots

A 16-year initiative by South African Airways (SAA) to fill more of its pilot jobs with people from previously disadvantaged communities is failing, and has seen the South African Air Force (SAAF) step in to offer assistance.

One of the transformation programme's stated intentions was to train more black African pilots, but figures from last year still show that white men dominate the field. Figures from last year show that, of SAA's 789 pilots, 657 of them are white and just 37 of them are black.

The SAAF has now launched a scheme where it will take on 60 black African pilots each year and put them through a two-year training course. After training, the SAAF releases them to the reserve force and allows them to work for commercial airlines on the condition that they still carry out national service

The Air Force's director of policy, Major General Lucky Ngema, said, "They are allowed to work with commercial airlines, but serve a certain number of hours with the air force annually. They must find a balance between their job and serving the required hours in the air force,"

Aviation industry bosses in South Africa have warned the government that, unless it intervenes, there will be a worsening shortage of black African pilots.