Indigo

According to the latest data released by the International Society Of Women Airline Pilots (ISA+21), India not only has the largest percentage of Women pilots in the world, but the percentage of Indian women pilots is more than double the global average.

Statistics show that the global average of the percentage of women pilots is around 5.4%. In India, the percentage of women pilots is 12.4%. India has a total of 8797 pilots out of which 1092 are women and 385 of these are women commanders or captains.

Globally, the total number of airline pilots is over 1.5 lakh of which 8061 are women out of which 2190 are flight captains.

Here are a few stats about female pilots with airlines in India:

• IndiGo has the second highest percentage of women pilots at nearly 13.9%. Of the 2,689 pilots that IndiGo employs, 351 are women.
• Of the 1,867 pilots in Jet Airways, 231 are women (12.4%)
• SpiceJet has 853 pilots of which 113 are women (13.2%)
• Air India, country’s pioneer in employing women pilots, has 1,710 pilots of which 217 are women pilots (12.7%).

In fact, IndiGo and Jet Airways are the only two carriers in the world, other than US-based carriers like United Airlines American Airlines, Delta Airlines and Southwest Airlines, where the number of female captains is currently in three digits.

At 299 female captains, United Airlines employs the largest number of women commanders in the world followed by American Airlines at 152 and Southwest at 121. IndiGo has 118 women commanders and Jet Airways 100.

In case you didn’t know, the percentage of female pilots in India has been way above the global average for quite some time now. In a report released by ISA+21 in 2006, the global percentage of women pilots was 5.9%. Back then, the percentage of women airline pilots in India was 11%, which still was double the global average.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is planning to allow only data/internet services aboard flights within India in the initial rollout of In-Flight Connectivity scheme.

Voice services have been put on a hold for now on account of some technical issues.

The DoT is likely to approach the Law Ministry next week for the review of these guidelines before notifying them. It could take around two weeks for the Ministry to sanction these guidelines.

They have held meetings with telecom operators and airlines, some of whom have shown interest to offer these services.

Once the licenses are rolled out, the carriers and telecom companies will reportedly have to bid to acquire the license for the service they want to push out.

While mobile phone use will still be restricted during take-off and landing, the Telecom Commission has approved lifting the ban on the use of mobile phones and internet services at cruising altitudes.

While it is still too early for a definite pricing structure for in-flight connectivity, it is anticipated that the cost of installing this will cost the airlines a lot.

Each aircraft would require an investment of about $1 million. The airplane will also have to be grounded for at least 10 days to retrofit the aircraft with the technology. In current circumstances, this revamping may not come across as very welcoming.

Globally, many airlines are offering Wi-Fi for passengers, but they have to switch off the facility when they enter Indian airspace. AirAsia, Air France, British Airways, Egypt Air, Emirates, Air New Zealand, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways and Virgin Atlantic are among the 30 airlines who have to do this.

Indian carriers have been advocating internet services on flights as it would result in add-on revenues and bring them at par with international flights.

India’s largest business conglomerate, Tata Group, has held preliminary talks on Thursday to buy a large stake in debt-ridden Jet Airways Ltd.

Jet Airways has been unable to pay salaries to its pilots and employees on time plus have defaulted on a lot of payments.

Mr. Naresh Goyal, Founder of Jet Airways, has sought equity collaboration, however, Tata Sons, the parent company of the $103 million conglomerate, is looking for management control.

Several points like management rights and future role of Mr. Goyal is causing hindrances in the negotiations, but both the companies are exploring ways to agree on a common ground.

Tata Group is interested to buy at least a 26 percent stake in Jet, which would trigger an open offer of an additional 26 percent from Jet’s shareholders. What this means is that if Tata acquires the 26% stake, they will have an option to further buy 26 % stake from the shareholders later on, giving it total control over the Airline’s management.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, which holds a 24 percent stake in Jet Airways, made a $35 million “cash pre-purchase payment” to help out the airline in financial troubles. However, Etihad Airways may sell a part or all of its stake in Jet Airways if the Tata Group comes into the picture.

Tata Sons chairman Mr. N Chandrasekaran has pushed the company’s aviation business through mergers and acquisitions. Currently, Tata has two aviation joint ventures, one with Singapore Airlines operating Vistara and the other with Air Asia.

With Tata’s investing heavily in the airline business it’s no surprise that they have gone with this decision to acquire Jet Airways.

Speculation is that former IndiGo president Mr. Aditya Ghosh, who is acting as an advisor to Tata Trust’s ‘Cancer Care Initiative’, may eventually pilot Tata’s aviation business. Only time will tell what’s the future of Jet Airways!