Cash-starved Air India is evaluating the number of pilots it needs as part of a new business plan, to be rolled out by October, airline?s chairman and managing director Rohit Nandan said on Monday.
?Since we are going to take delivery of the first three Boeing 787 Dreamliners, we would need a new business plan,? said Nandan, who took over in September 2011. ?We are in discussions to formulate the business plan and it will be implemented by October, when the winter schedule starts.?
Nandan, however, did not give a timeline as to when the business plan would be ready or whether the number of pilots will be cut down. The national carrier has been plagued with pilot strikes with two independent pilots’ unions striking in the past two years.
During the formulation of the business plan, Air India will also evaluate its network of routes. ?An airline can?t fly on a route just for the sake of it,? said Nandan. ?We have to fly only on profitable routes.?
The airline, which expects to take delivery of Dreamliners in 2012, will initially fly them on its domestic routes. ?We have to deploy them on domestic routes as pilots need to get a certain number of landings and take-offs before we fly them internationally,? said Nandan.
The delivery of Dreamliner planes are being pushed back as the Centre and Boeing need to agree on a compensation for the delay in aircraft delivery. Boeing had agreed to deliver these planes in 2008, but has been delayed as it took longer time to develop aircraft. The first 787 was delivered to Japan?s All Nippon Airways in 2011.
?The board has decided on the compensation amount and this has been sent to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs,? Nandan said. ?Once they approve it, the same would be sent to Boeing.?
The pilot training programme to fly the Boeing 787 has been the bone of contention for Air India?s striking pilots.
Around 450 Air India pilots flying international routes and represented by Indian Pilots? Guild have been on strike for past 40 days as they demanded exclusive training to fly the new planes. ?It is unlikely that they will come back,? said civil aviation minister, Ajit Singh addressing a press conference after meeting the Maharashtra chief minister, Prithviraj Chavan on airport development in the state.
?The pilots had reported sick, so to come back they had to have a medical examination after 14 days and after 30 days they need simulator training,? said Singh. ?Now to take them back it will take 3 to 4 months. “We have not shut the doors on the IPG pilots, if they want to come back unconditionally we will review it on a case-to-case basis, ? he added.
Air India now offers 11,000 seats on its international routes between April and September as compared to 14,000 which it had planned. ?We have anywhere between 100-150 pilots flying on international routes and we are still maintaining 70% of our international schedule,? said Nandan. The carrier has been losing anywhere between R10-15 crore in revenues for the last 40 days after the pilot stayed away from work.
