Jet's Indian pilots reverse decision of not flying with expat pilots from May 1

NEW DELHI: In a major relief to Jet Airways, its Indian pilots on Saturday have relaxed their fortnight-old decision of not flying with the expat pilots of the airline from Monday (May 1). The union of Jet’s Indian pilots, National Aviators’ Guild (NAG) told its members that the airline has assured them it will act against the alleged racist comments made by some expats.
“The directive (issued on April 15 for not training or flying with expats) was a result of racist comments and physical/ verbal abuse by certain expat pilots.The management has conveyed and assured that due process will be followed and suitable action as per company policy would be taken against the concerned expat pilots,” NAG told its members.
Asking them not to follow this directive, it adds: “The holiday season is upon us and we are alive to the fact that our guests may be inconvenienced if flight schedules were to be upset because of this directive.”
Jet has about 100 expat and 860 Indian commanders for its mixed fleet of Boeing 737, 777; Airbus 330 and ATRs. In all, the airline has about 1,900 pilots (co-pilots and commanders). The NAG directive would have affected flight schedules in the coming peak summer travel season and its withdrawal is a huge relief to Jet and passengers booked to fly its flights in coming weeks.
“The NAG committee expects the management to promptly address the issue and accordingly holds the aforementioned directive in abeyance till further notice. We are exploring all options to take up the FATA (foreign aircrew temporary authorization of DGCA which allows expats to fly for Indian airlines or charter firms) issue through appropriate channels,” NAG said on Saturday.
The issue of alleged racial slurs by a Jet pilot became a big controversy when cricketer Harbhajan Singh tweeted about the same earlier this week. Jet had said it had grounded the expat on the day this complaint was made against him.
Referring to this case, NAG had on April 15 written to its members: “Lately we have had certain shameful incidents involving expat pilots in the company. We had a case of an expat threatening a senior examiner and the expat since then has been terminated from service. While in the other cases, an expat was inexcusably rude to a physically challenged passenger on-board one of our flights….” Citing these cases, NAG had then asked its Indian members not fly with the expats from May 1.