Aviation industry undergoing a tough time, says Civil Aviation Secretary

Nedumbassery (Kerala), Sep.26 (ANI): Civil Aviation Secretary M Madhavan Nambiar on Friday said that the Aviation industry was going through a very difficult phase turning thousands of pilots and other specialized staff jobless in the country.

Nambiar was addressing the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) aviation academy in Nedumbassery district.

The aviation sector has been hit by a slowing economy triggered by the global financial slowdown, reducing business and leisure journeys of most passengers. Also costlier oil, pushed up airfares last year, are sending many passengers to trains.

The Indian industry's woes have been highlighted by a slump in passengers and have hit losses around nine billion dollars in the year 2009.

Nambiar said that thousands of trained commercial pilots in India are still looking for jobs even if they have spent huge amounts of money to procure their licenses in the country.

"The cumulative losses of airlines all over the world were 10 billion [dollars] and this year it is about 9 billion [dollars]. Airlines in India this year has made a loss of rupee 10,000 crores so this is the level of problem this sector is facing. We have 3,000 pilots today who are unemployed. They have spent more than 40 lakhs (rupees) to get the pilot license. So this is a very difficult time for all of us and it is a time where we have to pause, we have to introspect and see what we can do to revive this sector," said M Madhavan Nambiar.

However there is a huge demand for training in various professions like Air Traffic Controller, Nambiar said.

Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan inaugurated the CIAL academy. (ANI)