AI spends Rs 13 cr a yr on pilot training

NEW DELHI: At a time when Air India was starved for cash, the airline paid over Rs 13 crore in just a year to foreign companies for simulator-training programme for pilots. The national carrier did not conduct any survey on the cost of buying simulators and training the pilots here in comparison to the cost incurred in training pilots in simulators abroad.

The amount spent on simulator training in 2008-09 alone was Rs 13 crore. This is besides the expenses incurred on lodging and other allowances paid to pilots who underwent training. AI revealed this in response to an RTI application by Mr S C Aggarwal. The amount paid during 2007-08 was just over Rs 1.7 crore and in 2006-07 it was around Rs 2.5 crore.

“No cost comparison study between own simulator versus outsourced training was conducted since we did not own our own simulator,” it said in response to the RTI query.

The companies which provided training on Boeing and Airbus simulators include UK’s Alteon Training, Oxford Training Academy, Emirates, Lufthansa, Jordan Airline Training and Simulation, Delta Air and Egypt Air.

Air India has not owned a B-777 simulator till now and since training on it was a mandatory requirement for training, conversion and licence renewal of pilots, it cannot be carried out unless the required training was completed. “This is an inevitable requirement which has to be met. In the absence of the simulator, the company had to outsource the training to suitably approved training establishments,” Air India said.

The aviation industry and military services use a flight simulator for training pilots as a direct attempt on powered flight can prove to be dangerous. These enable fresh pilots to get used to controls of the plane, even if not actually airborne.

It allows customisation of airplane sensitivities, stability, weight and many other parameters, as well as changing weather conditions at the flying sites. AI, which is struck by its worst crisis ever, declared losses of Rs 5,550 crore last fiscal year and has Rs 14,000 crore in debt. The government has promised the airline a Rs 800-crore equity infusion besides the budgetary provision for another Rs 1,200 crore.