Domestic airline commanders will have to serve a notice period of one year, up from six months at present, as per the latest order by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Co-pilots will have to serve a notice period of six months, the regulator said.
The move comes despite opposition from 278 out of 281 respondents to the DGCA’s draft rules published in May this year.
“It has been decided that pilots working in an air transport undertaking shall give a ‘notice period’ of at least one year in respect of commanders, and six months in respect of co-pilots, to the employer, indicating his intention to leave the job,” said an order issued by DGCA chief B.S.Bhullar on Wednesday.
The order was issued with the approval of the Ministry of Civil Aviation on August 14, it said.
It, however, said that the provisions of the order “shall be subject to the outcome” of a writ petition filed by pilot unions in the Delhi High Court. The Indian Pilots Guild and the National Aviators Guild had moved the Delhi High Court terming the DGCA’s draft rules as “forced labour.”
The proposal to increase the notice period for pilots was first mooted last year by the DGCA following a request from domestic airlines, but was turned down by Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju back then.
The latest move also came after a renewed request from the Federation of Indian Airlines, which represents IndiGo, SpiceJet, Jet Airways and GoAir, in April this year. The FIA said that “many Indian carriers have had to resort to hiring expensive expatriate Captains” due to the “critical demand-supply imbalance.”
Justifying the increase in the notice period, the DGCA said in its order that training pilots for airline operations takes eight-nine months as they have “to pass technical and performance examinations of the aircraft, undergo simulator and flying training and undertake ‘Skill Test’ to satisfy licence requirements” before flying.