Air India To Allow Pilots To Fly For 5 Years Post Retirement

Bhubaneswar: To ensure adequate manpower for its fleet expansion plans, Tata Group-owned Air India (AI) has decided to raise the retirement age of pilots.

According to the new policy, Air India will give an extension of service to its selected pilots on a contract basis for a period of 5 years after retirement. The contract can be extended till the age of 65 years.

“Considering future expansion plans for our fleet, it is imperative to meet our workforce requirement for pilots. DGCA ((Directorate General of Civil Aviation) allows pilots to fly till the age of 65 years, compared to Air India’s retirement age of 58 years. Allowing pilots to fly till the age of 65 is a practice followed by most airlines in the industry.”

“To meet our requirement, it is proposed to retain our current trained pilots at Air India post-retirement on a contractual basis for 5 years extendable to 65 years,” the airline’s internal document dated July 29 stated.

Under AI’s new policy, a panel comprising functional representatives of HR and operations and flight safety will be constituted to examine the eligibility of pilots retiring in the next two years. A comprehensive review of the performance of those having completed five years of satisfactory service will be done for further extension till 65 years.

“The committee will be responsible for reviewing the past records of the pilots with respect to discipline, flight safety and vigilance. Post the review, the committee will recommend the shortlisted names to the Chief Human Resources Officer for issuing them post-retirement contract. One year prior to the pilots’ retirement, they will be issued a letter of intent for their post-retirement engagement,” it added.