It's the plane truth, and it's going to be hard for the Maharaja to bear. Jet-age poachers have not only entered Air India's airspace but have the struggling airline's best pilots in their sights.
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways and its Indian partner Jet Airways are in touch with Air India pilots who
fly wide-bodied Boeing 777 aircraft, and are offering them up to double their current compensation. Etihad's Rs 2,058-crore infusion into Jet Airways for a 24 per cent stake was cleared by the Union Cabinet on October 3 last year.
Jet Airways vice-president (Human Resources) Dr Samar B. Srivastava and US-based agency AeroPersonnel Global hired by Etihad had individually invited 140 commanders of Air India who fly Boe-ing 777s to a roadshow on November 27 and 28 at Jet's Andheri (East) office in Mumbai. The Jet-Etihad mass hunt for Air India commanders thus began much before the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved sale of five brand new Boeing 777-200s to Etihad on December 26 last year. AI pilots who fly 777s could now end up flying the very same planes for a different airline for a much higher salary.
An e-mail to AI commanders from Mike Ethridge, Director Recruitment, AeroPersonnel Global, on October 28, 2013 said: "The Etihad-Jet Airways investment has been signed and has been approved by five of the six Indian Government agencies reviewing the deal. The last governmental approval should completed within the next few weeks. This will bring close to half a billion dollars in the coffers of Jet Airways. Jet intends to add another five B777s starting in the last quarter of 2014. This is on top of the fifty B737 NG order announced last spring."
Needs 777-rated pilotsIndicating that the Jet-Etihad combine needs a good number of
Boeing 777-rated pilots, the email said: "On the commercial side, the Turkish Air-lines contract will end in June 2014. Starting in April 2014, Jet Airways will fly from Abu Dhabi to New York (JFK) on behalf of Etihad. If the num-ber of interested crews is high enough, Jet intends to establish a base in New York and base crews there. It is likely the same could happen for Chicago but we do not know yet if this could be the case. Mumbai basing is also available." The last paragraph of the mail was revealing. "As we need another eighty B777 candidates, do not hesitate to mention this oppor-tunity to your friends and col-leagues who could be interested," it said.
Jet-Etihad has also promised good salaries, much higher than that what Air India pays to com-manders. The airline says it will reimburse all recurrent training expenses besides hotel expenses. Air India officials maintain brave faces. "Since October last year, hardly three-four pilots have left the carrier," one said on condi-tion of anonymity. Salary delays at Air India-a problem that has largely been resolved now-had forced many AI pilots to join Emi-rates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways since July 2012. Also, 12 AI pilots had been sacked by the management following a month-long strike in April-May 2012. A commander working for an Indian airline said that six of the 12 sacked AI pilots affiliated to Indian Pilots Guild (flying Boeing 777 planes) were not considered by Jet Airways. Similarly, those pilots who faced temporary sus-pension after the 2012 strike were not considered by Jet-Etihad management.
"There is big demand for commanders flying Boeing 777. If Jet-Etihad manage to get even 40 out of 140 commanders from Air India in their fold, they would save lot of money on training these pilots. If Jet-Etihad start training pilots fresh on Boeing 777, it would take at least four-five months time, while if they trained 777 pilots they will get everything ready on their platter, without any effort," said a senior executive pilot.
It's been sweet going for Etihad in more ways than that just that one. "Etihad has done a good business deal given that it would have taken two-three years to get deliveries of new planes. They got five 777 LRs at a throw-away price," said a senior civil avia-tion ministry offi-cial. Etihad Air-ways has said it will use five AI purchased Boe-ing 777 planes on a new route between Abu Dhabi and Los Angeles from June 2014. Etihad Airways currently flies to New York, Chicago, Washington DC and Toronto in North America, and to Sao Paulo in Brazil. Debt-stricken Air India had put eight of Boeing 777s on sale, but had to issue the tender twice as there were no takers. After selling five of these planes to Etihad, AI is now looking for potential buyers for three more planes. All these planes were brought in 2007 and were supposed to operate for at least 25 years.
Air India Chairman and Manag-ing Director Rohit Nandan did not respond to phone calls and email. His office too did not respond. The Jet Airways spokesperson had no comment either.
Courtesy: Mail Today
Special 
