New Delhi, October 1
Saurabh (name changed) was trained at Eagle Jet in Florida, USA, but even after one-and-a-half year of his completing the course by spending more than Rs 35 lakh, his career as a commercial pilot has not yet taken off.

And, Saurabh is not the only such commercial pilot licence holder. There are anywhere between 3,500 and 4,000 unemployed licence holders in the country.

According to Capt Ashok Arya, president of the newly formed Unemployed Pilots Welfare Association (UPWA), there are around 4,000 unemployed commercial pilots waiting for jobs in India and their number was only going up due to global financial meltdown.

“Flying is a niche segment. In fact, the number of employed pilots, including expatriates, is just around 5,000. Perhaps the “sick” pilots of Jet Airways and Air India, who recently skipped work, holding their respective airlines and passengers to ransom, need to know the plight of these 4,000 trained jobless pilots, some of whom have now come together under the banner of the UPWA to lend voice to their demands,” he said.

In the days of economic boom when the aviation industry was thriving and commercial pilots were in short supply, several families spent a fortune to get their children enrolled with reputed aviation schools in India and abroad.

While in India commercial flying training comes at a cost of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per hour, taking the cost of training to around Rs 25 lakh, in flying clubs of the USA, the UK and Canada, each flying hour costs much more, taking the training cost up to Rs 40 lakh.

“To get a commercial pilot licence (CPL), an individual has to spend Rs 30 to Rs 40 lakh. For this, many parents have mortgaged their houses and so many have taken loans,” Arya said.

To overcome the shortage of captains during the boom time, the retirement age of pilots was extended from 60 to 65 years and the contracts of expat (expatriate) pilots extended.

What these youngsters were asking for was the termination of expat pilots’ contracts so that they could be accommodated; besides reduction in retirement age of pilots from 65 to 60 years and appointment of pilots through the UPSC so as to ensure fair selection, Arya said. The government had asked expat pilots to leave by July, 2010, which might come as some relief to the unemployed ones awaiting job opportunities.