Question : Recruitment of Staff by Air India

(a) whether an Internal Staff Notice was issued in January, 2016 for recruitment from permanent staff of Air India holding a
Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) to be inducted as trainee pilots for A-320 Aircraft;

(b) if so, the detail thereof along with criteria adopted for internal staff of Air India;

(c) whether candidates were asked to obtain A-320 endorsement at their own cost from any training establishment outside Air
India, despite Air India, having all the said facilities in-house, if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether permanent employees of Air India were asked to resign and re-join on contract basis and if so, the reasons
therefor along with DoPT guidelines in this regard; and

(e) whether candidates within Air India would be absorbed by the Government as pilots on permanent basis and with their last drawn salary and if so, the details thereof?

The Minister of State in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION
(Shri Jayant Sinha)

(a) and (b): Employment Notice No.02 of 2016 dated 13.01.2016 was issued exclusively for permanent serving employees of Air India Limited who were CPL Holders. The following eligibility criteria was adopted in the said recruitment exercise:;
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Academic Qualifications: (i) 10+2 from a recognised Board/ University.;
(ii) Upper Age Limit: 48 years for General candidates, 53 years for SC/ST and 51 years for OBC candidates.;
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Technical Qualifications: i) Current CPL/ATPL; ii) Current Flight Radio Telephone; iii) Current C.O.P/R.T.R; iv) Current Class-I Medical; v) Valid ELP on CPL/ATPL; vi) Multi-engine Endorsement with a minimum of 25 hours on Multi-engine aircraft (10 hours completed on an approved multi-engine Simulator); vii) Instrument rating on Multi-engine aircraft. All the eligible candidates were required to appear for a Psychometric Test which was a Qualifying stage. Candidates qualifying in the Psychometric Test were required to appear for a Technical Knowledge Test and those who qualify the same were empanelled on the basis of their marks in the Technical Knowledge Test.;
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(c): As per terms of Staff Employment Notice, empanelled candidates were issued a letter of intent for A-320 Endorsement course from an approved TRTO (Type Rating Training Organization) anywhere in the world at their own cost and Expenses. Candidates were required to obtain A-320 Endorsement and thereafter to get the same endorsed on their Indian CPL/ATPL within specified time period.

Air India?s own facility at Hyderabad for A 320 aircraft was being utilized for training of pilots and there was no spare capacity available. Hence, to speed up the recruitment process, the candidates were asked to get their A 320 endorsement from an approved TRTO anywhere in the world.
;

(d): The Board of Directors of Air India Limited in its 47th meeting held in July 2012 had approved that all the Pilots in future would be taken on contract. In the recent recruitment exercises, all the selected permanent employees have resigned or taken voluntary retirement from the services of the Company, as per applicable Service Regulations, before joining training as Sr. Trainee Pilot/Trainee Pilot. All the serving employees selected in the previous recruitment exercises have also been appointed as Pilot on Fixed Term Contract.
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(e): From the year 2015 onwards, all the candidates for the post of Pilot are being appointed initially on Fixed Term Contract for a period of 05 years. However, Company has already made a policy for regularization of services of Pilots being engaged on Fixed Term Contract after completion of 3 years and 2 months of service and on passing ATPL Papers. On appointment as Pilot, the salary drawn by these internal candidates will be more than their last drawn salary.