Mumbai: owned by the Tata Group Air India According to internal communications, the airline has offered to re-hire pilots after their retirement for a period of five years, amid talks of acquiring 300 single-aisle aircraft.
Air India is contemplating to re-appoint these pilots as commanders.
It also comes as the full-service carrier introduced a voluntary retirement plan for its employees, including cabin crew, and also recruits new blood into the once state-controlled carrier as well.
Pilots are the most expensive asset for an airline and are the highest paid compared to other major roles such as cabin crew and aircraft maintenance engineers.
Furthermore, the lack of adequately trained pilots has always been an issue in the domestic aviation industry.
Air India Deputy General Manager, Vikas Gupta said in an internal mail.
“During the post-retirement contract period, you will be paid admissible remuneration and flying allowance as per Air India’s policy for such appointments,” he said.
Interested pilots have been asked to submit their details with written consent by June 23, according to the mail.
A query sent to an Air India spokesperson in this regard did not elicit any response.
After successfully winning a bid for the airline in October last year, the Tata group took over control of Air India on January 27 this year.
The retirement age for pilots in Air India is 58 years like all other employees of the airline. Before the pandemic, Air India used to re-hire its retired pilots on contract, but the practice was discontinued after the end of March 2020. The contracts of such pilots were also terminated to partially offset the impact of the pandemic.
However, pilots of other private airlines fly till the age of 65.
Air India is contemplating to re-appoint these pilots as commanders.
It also comes as the full-service carrier introduced a voluntary retirement plan for its employees, including cabin crew, and also recruits new blood into the once state-controlled carrier as well.
Pilots are the most expensive asset for an airline and are the highest paid compared to other major roles such as cabin crew and aircraft maintenance engineers.
Furthermore, the lack of adequately trained pilots has always been an issue in the domestic aviation industry.
Air India Deputy General Manager, Vikas Gupta said in an internal mail.
“During the post-retirement contract period, you will be paid admissible remuneration and flying allowance as per Air India’s policy for such appointments,” he said.
Interested pilots have been asked to submit their details with written consent by June 23, according to the mail.
A query sent to an Air India spokesperson in this regard did not elicit any response.
After successfully winning a bid for the airline in October last year, the Tata group took over control of Air India on January 27 this year.
The retirement age for pilots in Air India is 58 years like all other employees of the airline. Before the pandemic, Air India used to re-hire its retired pilots on contract, but the practice was discontinued after the end of March 2020. The contracts of such pilots were also terminated to partially offset the impact of the pandemic.
However, pilots of other private airlines fly till the age of 65.