Mumbai: Air India, India’s national Public Sector air carrier, had just announced that it had reduced its losses in the first quarter, when it received a huge shock. Eight senior Boeing 787 Dreamliner pilots, on whom the airline had spent about Rs 40 lakh each on training, have resigned.  The Air India management was apprehensive that there could be more on the anvil.
Sources indicated that Spicejet is the beneficiary of these resignations in at least six cases. It’s flight operations chief, SPS Suri, was previously AI’s head of operations. “Two pilots have already joined SpiceJet and are doing their command training in South Africa. The rest are serving their notice periods,” a source is reported to have said.

“It’s a big loss. We trained them abroad at a huge expense in 2012. Training a single pilot costs anywhere between Rs 30-40 lakh. And during the training period, which can extend to a few months, the services of a pilot cannot be used for flying purposes,” said the source. AI has not commented officially.

However, what is surprising is the lack of a bond for the trainng, which is normal practice in the industry “A pilot should stay on fleet for a minimum of 5-7 years to justify the expenses involved. With no security bond or contractual obligation, B787 pilots are at the liberty to leave,” said an official.

“For a pilot, what matters most is career progression. All those who have resigned are co-pilots, but had an average 4,000 hours of flying experience, while you can become a captain with half that experience in a private airline. While they were flying on premium routes like Paris, Milan and Rome, progression opportunities were limited,” said an AI pilot anonymously.