Fat expat pilot salaries upset carrier budgets

Indian carriers need pilots, preferably Indian ones. That’s because their expat counterparts carry a heavy price tag and airlines are feeling the pinch, reports CNBC-TV18.

For a while Indian carriers were struggling to fill up seats. Now they're desperate to fill their cockpits. That's because India adds almost half-a-dozen aircraft a month, but doesn't have enough pilots.

India's 2,300 pilots fly more than 230 aircrafts. Of these, almost a quarter are expatriates with heavy price tags. So some airlines are considering setting up their own training schools.

An expat pilot gets USD 20,000  average a month on average - almost twice as much as an Indian pilot's salary. Pilots' wages comprise 70% of an airline's wage bill. So getting rid of expats will save airlines 3-5% of their costs each year. But carriers are optimistic.

India needs 400 pilots a year, but produces only about 100. Industry sources say that while carriers are drawing up short-term plans to churn out pilots, the best way to maintain supply is for airlines to set up training schools. But that's a plan still waiting to take off.