Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines plans to hire 70 foreign pilots for its international operations, which are scheduled to commence in September.
"We plan to get about 70 foreign pilots on our rolls, apart from the ones we already have, for our overseas operations scheduled for launch from September," a senior Kingfisher Airlines official said.
The airline, which has ordered 10 wide body aircraft for its international services, has already started looking for pilots. "We have started looking and would hire them closer to the launch of international operations in early September."
For its various domestic sectors, Kingfisher had 110 pilots from abroad on its rolls in the beginning of the year.
Domestic carriers have resorted to hiring foreign pilots as a measure to mitigate the shortage of trained pilots available within the country.
The airline plans to fly to various SAARC member countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, apart from destinations in West Asia and the West from September. The carrier, which currently has a fleet of 84 aircraft, has ordered five Superjumbo Airbus A380s and another five Airbus A330s.
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It took delivery of two Airbus A330s recently, while another one is due on August 2.
The airline also plans to rename Deccan Aviation, which it acquired from Capt G R Gopinath, to Kingfihser Airlines next month.
The move comes at a time when the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is looking to restrain domestic airlines from employing expats more than 10 per cent of the total pilot strength, a proposal for which is being mooted in a draft paper.
On the flip side, some domestic airlines have done away with foreign pilots since they command bigger salaries as compared with the domestic talent.
Under the current regulations, a carrier is allowed to fly to foreign destinations only on completion of five years of domestic operations.