 "Air India goes for rostering to improve pilot efficiency")
State-owned Air India is putting in place a system of mandatory rostering to improve the efficiency of its pilots, nearly a fourth of whom, in an internal audit, have been found working for less than 40 hours a month, as against 80 hours stipulated by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) under flight duty time limitations (FDTL) norms.
A senior official with the airline told Business Standard: “We have added 11 aircraft and two new sectors to Birmingham and Australia this year. There is a substantial number of pilots who are working less than 30-40 hours a month. We are implementing the FDTL guidelines as outlined by the DGCA and are putting in place a system of mandatory rostering to enhance employee efficiency.”
According to DGCA regulations, commercial pilots cannot fly for more than 1,000 hours a year. Currently, Air India pilots on an average fly 63 hours a month, as compared to 80 hours flown by pilots in private airlines.
“Due to the monitoring mechanisms put in place, average working hours of pilots have gone up to 63 hours a month from 57 hours over the last few months. Our expectation is that it should go up to 75-80 hours a month and we are tightening procedures for that,” the official added.
Air India has 1,543 pilots flying largely three families of aircraft — Airbus A320s, Boeing 777s and Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The airline has around 650 pilots flying A320s, which are used for domestic and short-haul international flights and over 400 pilots for the long-haul Boeing 777s.
The airline has also readied a new salary structure for pilots aimed at improving efficiency. Under the new norms, the flying allowance paid to pilots will not be fixed but will depend on the number of hours a pilot flies. As of now, flying allowance of pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India are fixed at 72 and 80 hours, respectively. The pilots get paid 1.25 times till a certain slab and 1.5 times beyond that if they fly more than their given hours.
Another official in the airline added, “Despite the issue with pilots, we have managed to improve the utilisation of remaining employees. Our productivity improved by 18 per cent last fiscal and we are on track to increase it by an added 23 per cent in course of the current financial year.”
According to official data, productivity per employee improved by 18 per cent in the last financial year. With the new monitoring systems in place, productivity per employee is further targeted to increase by 23 per cent to Rs 85 lakh in FY14 as compared to Rs 69 lakh at the end of March 2013.
A senior official with the airline told Business Standard: “We have added 11 aircraft and two new sectors to Birmingham and Australia this year. There is a substantial number of pilots who are working less than 30-40 hours a month. We are implementing the FDTL guidelines as outlined by the DGCA and are putting in place a system of mandatory rostering to enhance employee efficiency.”
According to DGCA regulations, commercial pilots cannot fly for more than 1,000 hours a year. Currently, Air India pilots on an average fly 63 hours a month, as compared to 80 hours flown by pilots in private airlines.
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“Due to the monitoring mechanisms put in place, average working hours of pilots have gone up to 63 hours a month from 57 hours over the last few months. Our expectation is that it should go up to 75-80 hours a month and we are tightening procedures for that,” the official added.
Air India has 1,543 pilots flying largely three families of aircraft — Airbus A320s, Boeing 777s and Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The airline has around 650 pilots flying A320s, which are used for domestic and short-haul international flights and over 400 pilots for the long-haul Boeing 777s.
The airline has also readied a new salary structure for pilots aimed at improving efficiency. Under the new norms, the flying allowance paid to pilots will not be fixed but will depend on the number of hours a pilot flies. As of now, flying allowance of pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India are fixed at 72 and 80 hours, respectively. The pilots get paid 1.25 times till a certain slab and 1.5 times beyond that if they fly more than their given hours.
Another official in the airline added, “Despite the issue with pilots, we have managed to improve the utilisation of remaining employees. Our productivity improved by 18 per cent last fiscal and we are on track to increase it by an added 23 per cent in course of the current financial year.”
According to official data, productivity per employee improved by 18 per cent in the last financial year. With the new monitoring systems in place, productivity per employee is further targeted to increase by 23 per cent to Rs 85 lakh in FY14 as compared to Rs 69 lakh at the end of March 2013.