Services of Jet Airways could face disruption from May 1 if the 1,000 pilots of the full-service carrier Jet Airways refuse to work with expat pilots. The National Aviators Guild (NAG), representing Jet Airways' domestic pilots, demanded to rid the carrier of foreign pilots over an alleged assault on an examiner in Bengaluru a few days ago.
The company has a simulator training facility for B737 and B777 aircraft at the Training Centre in Bangalore.
"NAG has issued a directive to all its members not to fly with the foreign pilots in the airline from May 1 as one of the foreign pilots assaulted a designated examiner during a training session about 10 days ago," the PTI quoted a source as saying. Jet Airways has a fleet of 105 aircraft.
While remaining non-committal, Jet Airways cited the multi-cultural nature of its workforce when asked to comment. "As an Indian airline operating internationally, Jet Airways has always focused on recruiting the brightest talent and today, has best-in-class cockpit crew from around the world, including a limited (marginal) percentage of expatriate pilots," it said in an official statement.
There are other issues also, such as alleged misbehaviour of foreign pilots with passengers. "The safety of our passengers and pilots is of prime importance and these kind of issues cannot be tolerated at all. The expats are also a huge drain on the company's and the nation's finances," the NAG said.
Foreign pilots number about 60 in the Naresh Goyal-controlled company that has a market share of about 15.5 percent in the growing domestic air space, the largest being budget carrier IndiGo.
In the third quarter (Q3, FY2017), the company's partner Etihad, along with Etihad Airways Partners (an alliance comprising eight carriers– Etihad Airways, Air Berlin, Alitalia, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Etihad Regional, Jet Airways, and NIKI) brought 5.59 lakh passengers on to Jet Airways, according to the company's conference call post Q3 results.
Jet Airways had 13,527 employees as of March 31, 2016 according to its annual report for FY2016.
Etihad Airways holds 24 percent stake in Jet Airways; the stock closed 1.19 percent lower at Rs 496 on the BSE on Monday.
The BSE Sensex ended at 29,414, down 48 points from its previous close.
