Garuda takes on 23 new pilots
Guest Writers are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the specific writer directly
Garuda Indonesia has received 23 new pilots from the Bali International Flight Academy (BIFA). The pilots become the fourth batch of new graduates to join the national carrier from BIFA, and form part of Garuda’s pilot recruitment drive which is running alongside its fleet expansion programme.
After one year’s training to obtain a Private Pilot Licence (PPL), Commercial Pilot License (CPL) and Instrument Rating certificate, the new pilots will now undergo a further six months of training that will eventually qualify them to fly Garuda aircraft.
Garuda said it needs to recruit around 200 pilots per year to cater for its expansion. To-date, BIFA has trained around 100 pilots, the first of which was hired by Garuda in March 2010. The first and second batch pilots are already operating on Garuda’s aircraft as First Officers, while the third batch is still undergoing training at the Jakarta-based airline’s training centre. Currently, as many as 75 potential pilots are training at the BIFA, in batches five, six and seven.
As well as helping the airline expand its operations, the new graduate pilots will also replace foreign pilots who were hired by the airline during its ‘bridging’ period, until the prospective pilots complete their training. At present, there are 23 foreign pilots working at Garuda, all of whom will all be phased out by early 2012.
“Today, Garuda Indonesia has around 200 pilots in training in various flying schools around the country. These pilots will later fill in during the ‘bridging’ till the end of the year,” said Garuda’s President & CEO, Emirsyah Satar. “Hopefully, by the end of the year, the more flight cadets complete their training and graduate, the less we shall have the need for foreign pilots. In the future, Garuda Indonesia’s fleet will be fully operated by Indonesian pilots,” he added.
So far in 2011, 11 new aircraft have joined the Garuda fleet – nine Boeing 737-800NGs and two Airbus A330-200s. The airline was embroiled in a row with its pilots’ union earlier this year, which was unhappy about the salary discrepancies between the airline’s Indonesian and foreign pilots.
Comments are closed.