2 August, 2005: Low cost carrier Air Deccan is on a pilot hunt. Air Deccan chief Managing Director Capt G R Gopinath said it would recruit 650 to 700 pilots in the next five years.

Air Deccan has suffered a daily loss of Rs 75 lakh due to the heavy rains in Mumbai, he said.

Several aircraft have been forced to return without landing in Mumbai, while some others were diverted to other airports. This resulted in huge losses and refunds to passengers, he said.

Following the Civil Aviation ministry’s directive to airlines to reduce their operational capacity, Air Deccan cut its flights by almost 50 per cent. Gopinath was speaking at a function to announce its e-ticketing tie-up with Reliance Infocomm through an eight-city video conferencing.

Gopinath said each aircraft would need 11 pilots. More than half of the recruitments would be in the level of captain. The aviation sector needs a systemic correction, he said. Gopinath lamented the the lack of proper flying schools in the country to train aspiring pilots.

Captian Gopinath said Air Deccan had 200 pilots in its fold and pilots from other airlines like Singapore Airlines, were evincing interest in joining his firm.

Pointing out the exodus of software engineers to western countries, he said reverse body-shopping was also possible in the case of pilots. On the bulging pay packets of pilots, Capt Gopinath maintained that this was a problem which every growing industry had to tackle with. Air Deccan had set apart ten per cent of its stocks for distribution among its employees.

He told reporters that the Chennai airport was less congested and therefore the 65,000 sq ft of land to house its world-class hangar was apt.

Air Deccan’s maintenance is being handled by a seven-member Scandinavian team. Gopinath said Ryan Air's Warwick Brady was joining his firm as COO later this month. The firm will spend Rs 20 crore on promotional activities this year.

Air Deccan earned a revenue of Rs 1,000 crore this year, compared to Rs 350 crore last year, he said.

BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT