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Indigo to join race to acquire more aircraft, but where are the pilots?

Are the Indian skies ready for a cut-throat competition? Reacting to Air India's mega deals with aviation majors Airbus and Boeing for acquiring 470 new aircraft, rivals Indigo and other carriers are planning to place orders for 1,200 planes. India is already facing a severe shortage of experienced pilots. Experienced pilots cannot be produced instantly! As it takes about 8 to 10 years' flying to enable one to operate modern long haul aircraft, the new arrivals will stay in the hangars! Even those currently on the rolls will need type rating and more simulators. There have been cases in the recent past as also in the late 2000s of planes being grounded for want of pilots.

NEW DELHI, Feb 17: Not to be left behind, Indigo and other Indian airlines are planning to acquire a larger number of aircraft following the mega deal of Air India with Boeing and Airbus early this week. They are reportedly going to place orders for around 1,200 aircraft in the course of the next year, beating Air India's record of 470, it is learnt.

However, an aviation agency has warned against a repetition of the situation when several aircraft had to be grounded due to shortage of crew during 2005-2008 and even recently. Besides the demand for crew like pilots, engineers and air traffic controllers, airport capacity and airspace availability also need to be taken into account while deploying a large number of aircraft.

Air India will need 6,500 more pilots for 470 planes being bought new in a mega deal with Airbus and Boeing, according to sources. Currently it has a fleet of 113 aircraft and even with 1,600 pilots the airline is facing a shortage to operate them. Air India subsidiaries Air India Express and AirAsia India together have 850 pilots for their 54 planes while Air Vistara has 600 pilots for 53 planes it has. Widebody A-350 will require 30 pilots per plane used for long haul while a Boeing widebody 777 needs 26 pilots. An Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 Max requires 12 pilots. Pilot requirements vary depending on the weight and length of the plane as well as the nature of operation.

According to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), India is emerging as a major global aviation market. “India is, perhaps, on the cusp of a long- awaited and historic change...it may finally be set to take its place as the global aviation market of the 21st century," it said.

Tata Group-owned Air India is buying 470 planes for which orders have been placed with Boeing and Airbus manufacturers. The mega deal is worth over $80 billion. The first batch of the planes in the deal will arrive by year-end and the last in 2032.

In the largest-ever deal announced on Tuesday, 250 planes will be Airbus that includes 210 single-aisle A-320/321 Neo/XLR and 40 widebody A-350- 900/1000 while 220 planes will come from Boeing, 190 of them 737 Max, 20 Dreamliner 787-9s and 10 777s. Airbus 350 and Boeing 777-9 are widebody for long haul.

It is also reported that the mega deal has an option to buy 370 more planes from the aviation majors in the next decade. Air India's current fleet has over 100 planes comprising of Airbus A319, A320, A320 neo, A321 as well as Boeing 777 and Boeing 787.

Hailing the deal, French President Emmanuel Macron said “The contract that Airbus and Tata Sons signed this morning marks a new stage in India and France’s strategic partnership."

US President Biden said the sale of over 200 Boeing aircraft will support over a million jobs in the US and help Air India meet its transportation demands.

Secret negotiations for the mega deal were going on for about a year. With the deal finally done in talks at London on Tuesday, Air India can look forward to taking a top slot in international aviation. While India's largest airline IndiGo has around 500 planes, US' American Airlines has over 900 planes. Airlines in India have over 600 Airbus and Boeing planes flying at present.

Tatas had regained the ownership of loss-making State-run Air India in a process of privatisation last year. The Government had taken over the airline, which originally belonged to the Tatas, in early 1950s soon after India's Independence.

Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said in a statement, “This order is an important step in realising Air India’s ambition to offer a world-class proposition serving global travellers with an Indian heart. These new aircraft will modernise the Airline’s fleet and onboard product, and dramatically expand its global network.”

He said, "Air India is not just another airline. It is a national project. It holds the hopes and aspirations of millions of people."

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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.

The irony lies in her illustration of her experiences in the country she has been living in for the last four years. What it really is!

ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!

The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.

Many of the victims were charred beyond recognition, making identification difficult. Three hundred nineteen body parts have been sent for DNA matching with relatives to determine the identities.

  • The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
  • The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
  • The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)

A comment on social media on Kanimozhi's answer on the question of national language read: "Daughter of Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi. Delivered the Birthday Present to her Father!!" (Karunanidhi was born on June 3, 1924) (Today's headlines )

Trump said, "Elon is not really leaving" and will be "back and forth" to the White House because DOGE is his "baby." "I think he’s going to be doing a lot of things.”

Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.

PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.

Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people. (Today's headlines )

"Coming from a system like in England, empowering," she says she never had an idea of this sort of experience... being asked to “socialise with middle-aged men” who financed the event...humiliating...

Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.

Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.

As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.

The committee headed by justice Kurian Joseph will study Centre-State relations and make proposals to ensure foolproof separation of powers.

"It's a big victory not just for Tamil Nadu but for all Indian States. DMK will continue to struggle for and win State autonomy and Federal polity," Chief Minister MK Stalin said.

Of 2.08 km in length, it features 99 spans and a 72.5-metre vertical lift span that rises up to a height of 17 metres, facilitating smooth movement of ships while ensuring seamless train services to the holy town of Rameswaram on Pamban island.

ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!

What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America! (Today's headlines )

PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).

In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.

THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.

The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.

Suddenly these colonial clerks feel this effortless, little rule will tremendously enhance security and convenience for the railway passengers manifold. More stations will be covered in the next 77 years! (Also See: New Delhi station stampede... What went wrong?)

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