India's major airlines are feeling the effects of IndiGo's problems. Anxiety has been raised within the ranks of the budget carrier, particularly Air India Express, by the Air India group's attempt to enter its turbulent waters by publishing an advertisement seeking seasoned Airbus A320 captains.
The issue is that AI Express's underutilised A320 pilots worry that an increase in their number will result in a further reduction in their flying hours and negatively impact their compensation.
To date, about one hundred pilots have written to the low-cost airline (LCC) management of the Tata Group to express their opposition to the proposed induction. The biggest operator of the A320 family of aircraft worldwide is IndiGo.
Currently, Air India Express operates 110 aircraft, of which 76 are Boeing 737s and the remaining 34 are Air India and AirAsia India's A320 family aircraft. Early in the next year, at least ten of these A320s will be given back to lessors.
The airline will add more A320s, but the delay in doing so will result in less flying hours, or at least 40 hours of flying permission.
Former AirAsia India cut pilots fixed-hour pay contracts from 70 to 40 hours during the COVID-19 pandemic. Air India subsequently lowered the set hours as well. The only person who did not do it while taking a pay cut was the former Vistara.
IndiGo has reduced the 70-hour requirement for new junior first officers (JFOs) to 50-hour fixed contracts. In the event that actual flying is fewer, fixed-hour contracts guarantee pilots will be compensated for a minimum of specific hours.
With over 1,600 pilots, AI Express's A320 pilots are armed. "We've consistently been informed over the past year that the group is surplus on A320 captains, which has also been the basis for maintaining the 40-hour contract and declining the requested 70-hour contract please clarify the reason for initiating recruitment now," the letters said.
"When internal utilization is still poor, why move forward with external recruitment? Given the number of recent resignations in the A320 fleet, is there a strategy to give retention or re-engagement top priority before hiring outside candidates? They asked, "Won't any further hiring at this point further affect the ability of current captains to achieve the contractually assumed cost to company based on 70 hours of flying?"
