22-Nov-2010 11:37 AM
Indian Government to extend the deadline for carriers to phase out foreign pilots
Indian Government reportedly plans to extend the deadline for Indian carriers to phase out foreign pilots (Economic Times, 22-Nov-2010). The Government previously extended the deadline from Jun-2010 to Jul-2011, subject to validation of their foreign license by DGCA. There are currently over 600 expat pilots, who are employed by five major Indian scheduled operators - Air India, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, IndiGo and SpiceJet. The DGCA programme to phase out foreign pilots had resulted in their numbers reducing from 944 in 2008 to 686 in 2009 to 600 in 2010.