I jumpseated (in the cockpit) on A.I. 3 times in 2004. At the time the pilots were PISSED. Air India use to have, BY FAR, the strongest cockpit crew union in the world. Then, during the SARS outbreak, the union negotiatiors exploited that event in an effort to demand more pay. They told the company no flights to China until SARS is over... or until they get a raise. After a few weeks of virtually no Indian flights to China, the Indian Parliment got involved and literllay dissolved the union. It was all downhill from there. I believe this occured in the 2002-2003 timeframe.
By the time I got the story in late 2004, the union was slowly trying to rebuild itself but the pilots were being worked to death. I remember the F/O telling me he was flying 24 days per month, forgot what his wife and kids looked like.
The probelm later, for Air India pilots, is that after 2004 the Indian Aviation market exploded. Kingfisher ordered more than 100 aircraft, Sahara followed suit, Air Deccan followed Jet Airways began a major international expansion, numerous other players entered the market, SpiceJet, etc.... even Indian Airlines, the state-run national domestic airline, jumped into the fray ordering new aircraft. The predicted boom in aviation had finally hit the world's largest democracy and its been gaining critical mass ever since. This explosion in the mkt unraveled A.I's lock on international flights plus it caused an exodus of pilots as they were lured to other carriers for greater pay and work rules.
Eventually, parliment stepped in again raising the retirement age to 65 to accomadate the boom and also requiring that any pilot intending to jump ship, or jump plane as it were, must give their employer 6 months notice. This slowed the metoric rise in pilot poaching (carrier on carrier) somewhat, which also served to slow the explosion in pilot pay.
So while, A.I. once had the stongest union in the world, it has since been broken and any efforts to rebuild have been seriously slowed since so many pilots keep leaving. If pilots leave, you have a bran-drain of competent unionists that otherwise would have risen to rebuild but are now instead starting over elsewhere.
At one time no too long ago, as recently as 5 yrs ago, A.I. was the carrier of choice for an upcoming pilot entrant into the commercial aviation sector in India. Today, the playing field has been leveled so A.I. is just not as desirable.
This is not to say the fat lady has sung yet. I believe those pilots who stayed will eventually turn their labor efforts around and retake all the ground that was lost. I have seen them at work in various job-actions in the past. Truly the best unionists on the planet back in the day. If one pilot refused a flight for safety or contractual reasons, nobody else would take the trip. It would literally require a management pilot to step in.
If you have little aviation experience or you want WB time, I think the shift to A.I. would be a very wise choice. Once you're over there you can make in-roads and contacts with the other growing carriers and sort out your options if A.I. is not a good fit. One thing is for sure at all Indian carriers, the Captain has final word on everything. No messing around with that. No F/A bs, no gate agent bs, no dispatcher other staffer bs. Capt is, for lack of a better word, "God" in India.
